I have a gay uncle, but he's schizophrenic, deeply medicated, and institutionalized so he was not exactly a great role model for me to look up to as an impressionable little kid and think "maybe being gay doesn't make me a freak after all." Obviously his being gay and his being schizophrenic were unrelated but I didn't know that growing up.
My sister ALWAYS had gay boyfriends tho. I'm not sure whether she was just bearding for all of them or whether closeted gay men were just her "type" but I am not exaggerating when I say she had like six different gay boyfriends while she was in high school.
