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" If you&amp;#039;re like most of us, than the answer to that question is probably no. That&amp;#039;s because sexuality, according to Carolyn Wagner, National Vice President of the organization PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays) www.pflag.org, is an aspect of your identity -- like your personality -- that evolves over time. And as with any part of your identity, questioning your sexual orientation is a normal, healthy, perfectly natural thing to do. So if you&amp;#039;re wondering whether you&amp;#039;re straight, gay, or somewhere in between, guess what? A lot of other people are wondering the same exact thing.  A Changing Landscape Here&amp;#039;s an amazing fact to think about: Between 1990 and 2000 the age at which most gay and lesbian people &amp;quot;came out&amp;quot; dropped from 22 to 13. (&amp;quot;Coming out,&amp;quot; BTW, means letting other people know that you&amp;#039;re gay, lesbian, or bisexual.) What does that change mean? To Ms. Wagner, it means that young people today are &amp;quot;the best informed, most enlightened generation yet.&amp;quot; As recently as fifteen years ago, homosexuality was a big silent ghost in most American junior high and high schools -- lots of people were thinking about it, but no one was talking about it. Luckily, all that&amp;#039;s changing today. We now know that there are significant numbers of students who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning their sexuality). In fact, experts estimate that between 10% and 20% of kids fall into one of these categories.  The H Word Unfortunately, lots of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning) teenagers still feel very isolated. That&amp;#039;s because homophobia -- an irrational fear of homosexuals--still exists in many places and many forms. Lots of LGBTQ young people report having been victims of some kind of discrimination or abuse, from name-calling to physical attacks. In Ms. Wagner&amp;#039;s words, &amp;quot;any time a person is insulted and made to feel inferior based on their religion, their race, or their sexual orientation, you take away a part of that person, and at the same time you diminish yourself.&amp;quot; Harassment of homosexuals is as closed-minded, cruel, and illegal as harassment of any other kind. The bad news is that it still exists. But the good news is that schools are being held increasingly accountable for it.  Getting the Support You Need Coming to terms with your sexual orientation can be a complicated process. Don&amp;#039;t forget that there&amp;#039;s help available. As Ms. Wagner explains, &amp;quot;Part of being proud and secure in who you are is not being afraid to reach out for support and back-up. There&amp;#039;s no reason to suffer in isolation or to embark on coming out alone.&amp;quot;  If there&amp;#039;s an adult you trust and would like to confide in, such as a teacher or a school counselor, you might test the waters first by asking her or him what she/he thinks about homosexuality. Ms. Wagner recommends using the good old-fashioned &amp;quot;I have a friend who . . .&amp;quot; line, if you&amp;#039;re unsure of what kind of response you might get. It&amp;#039;s often a good idea to first get some help from people who have training and experience about coming out. PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays) www.pflag.org has 470 chapters in the United States. Some more resources: Advice for gay teens The Gay Student Center Gay youth and gay teens  SexSmarts is a partnership of seventeen and the Kaiser Family Foundation. We&amp;#039;re here to provide you with information and resources on a range of sexual health issues, from decision making about sex, including how to say &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;, to the real facts on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/love/advice/a97/sexual-orientation-hsp-0404/>