Why do people fall in love with people of the same sex?

Answer

No one can say for sure why some girls and boys fall in love with people of the same sex. It is also not so easy to explain why other girls and boys fall in love with people of the opposite sex. It used to be assumed that you obviously had to be straight: how else could the species survive? Unfortunately, scientists who first tackled the question you pose a century or so ago often aimed to find a solution to the “problem” (or even the “disease”) of people who did not fall in love with persons of the opposite sex. Fortunately, this is no longer the case in scientific circles today.

Probably our sexual orientation is the result of a complex and for each of us highly personal interplay of factors (both chemical and biological processes in our body, as well as the influence of upbringing and experiences). And it’s equally likely that many of us, for convenience’ sake, sum up our often quite complex and confusing sexual feelings under one heading: straight, gay, or, if need be, bi.
What we do know for sure is that our society makes it easier for those who fall in love with people of the opposite sex to show those “straight” feelings in public.

I am attaching a link to the recent Equal Opportunities in Flanders brochure entitled “Everything you always wanted to know about LGBs”. If you have urgent questions, you can always call (or email or chat) anonymously and free of charge to the LGB phone.