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Homosexual adolescents come from all racial and ethnic groups, all economic backgrounds, and all religious dominations. They live in large cities, suburbs, and rural communities. They are student leaders, athletes, and active members of civic groups as well as school dropouts and runaways. With the exception of a few, most homosexual adolescents are indistinguishable from their heterosexual peers. In fact, most homosexual adolescents are invisible.

In order to understand the development of the homosexual adolescent, there must first be a definition of homosexuality. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (Morantz & Torrey, 2004), homosexuality is the persistent sexual and emotional attraction to member's of one's own gender and is part of the continuum of sexual expression. Many homosexual males and females first become aware of their sexuality during adolescence, as do most heterosexual males and females.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Alfred Kinsey developed a landmark spectrum of sexuality, also known as a continuum, in which his research identified a spectrum of sexual behavior that ranged from sexual behavior and attraction to the opposite sex to sexual behavior and attractions to the same sex. In Kinsey's research, it was noted that few people were homosexual or heterosexual. In fact, his research uncovered that a vast majority of people range somewhere in the middle of heterosexuality and homosexuality.

During adolescence, youth begin to consolidate adult identity. Identity is a complex integration of cognitive, emotional, and social factors that make up a person's sense of self. These include gender, sex roles (social and cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity), personality, and sexual orientation. According to

Adolescence is a time of exploration and experimentation; as such sexual activity does not necessarily reflect either present or future sexual...