Questions about a gay character

I am writing a gay character in my comic, and I since I don't know any gay people well enough, I had a couple questions
1. Is it realistic for a person to know they're gay at fourteen?
2. Is it possible for him to not hide the fact that he's gay at school (Not like the whole school knows, he just doesn't pretend to be straight), but not have his parents suspect? How about if the parents don't really get involved with the school system?

edited 24th Jan '12 1:18:22 PM by kamikamiya

But Don't Forget Knuckles O'Shaughnessy!

Yes.

For number two, he could be Straight Gay. Just never denied being gay. As long as he's not pashing guys on the sofa there's no reason for his parents to suspect anything.

Also for someone to suspect something they have to think it's possible. Maybe the parents just can't comprehend their son being gay, so the thought never occurs to them. Maybe they both sexually matured*

quite late (I had my first wet dream at 21, so it happens) and just think that he isn't interested in girls/anyone yet. Maybe they try not think in stereotypes and handwave him being involved in the theatre club, etc.

I don't think school involvement would change much. Though if the kid was involved in a gay bashing or something like that, they'd find out pretty quickly. Unless they went straight to denial.

It occurs to me that there might be an unclarified factor - is the kid hiding in the closet at home?

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

One of the problems with #2 is that gay kids, especially younger ones, get bullied a lot—the odds of everyone at the school just being cool with it are extremely low—and if there's bullying going on, the odds of parents being notified are pretty high.

Yes and yes.

For number one, one can realize they're gay once puberty starts. For number two, in most cases, people who are gay are no different than people who are heterosexual.

I suggest you should do a little more research. The questions you're asking are a bit basic, and not having enough knowledge in this type of subject might result in an unfortunate inaccuracy.

1. Yeah. As soon as sexual attraction begins, which is usually around 10-12, one can realize they are gay.

2.Very. I mean, many parents have no idea what their kids are like when they're not around, and it's very unlikely for any kid to care enough to look up the kid's parents, and tell the parents their kid is gay. Even the most flamboyant of gays, some parents/people may believe their kid is a Camp Straight. And at 14, they probably won't be having sex yet anyway, let alone a lot of it. Especially if they're gay.

Yes, his parents aren't homophobic, but they really don't understand a lot of the LGBT culture and are pretty callous about what they say, so he's afraid of what they'd think

But Don't Forget Knuckles O'Shaughnessy!

1.Yes 2.Yes. People always suspected I was gay, but no one had the nerve to ask so until recently I basically had an impenetrable glass closet. As long as they don't get gay bashed there's no real problem.

Oh and good luck writing and everything.

edited 24th Jan '12 4:20:21 PM by Aqueos

Bet you didn't see that coming