Question: Does gathering information help others to see people going through the same things?

Dan Taylor answered on 13 Mar 2019:

I don’t know if I fully understand the question – do you mean does research help break down stigma or help people understand the experiences of others?
In which case absolutely! If you can understand where a behaviour comes from its easier to provide context to the behaviour. I think it also allows people to challenge their assumptions – Homosexuality has been associated with things like demonic possession, child abuse, a lack of morals and other nasty stuff. The research shows that’s not the case, its about various biological and developmental factors such as in utero (when the person is still in the womb) environment/hormone levels, genetics and more! Anyone who is open minded can read the research and see that its not any of these nasty things but just a different way of being due to differences in biology and early development. You’re always going to find some people who won’t be as open minded and won’t want to listen to science but research has done a wonderful job of helping to provide alternative, sensible explanations to a variety of behaviours.