Gender Identity vs. Sexual Orientation

Gender Identity has to do with being male, female or something else.

Sexual Orientation has to do with attraction. As children, we see the first signs of sexual orientation in who young people play or socialize with.

People Are Different: Some people do not experience sexual attraction. Other people enjoy platonic but not sexual connections. These are completely valid expressions of interpersonal relationships.

Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation are related but are not the same thing.

Much time is spent discussing these topics within a gender assessment.

Is it "normal" to feel attraction to the same-sex or towards multiple genders? What about the absence of sexual attraction?

"Normal" is a term borrowed from statistics. If 51% or more people do or feel something, that is considered "normal." Of course, normal is a word often used to mean acceptable.

We are born with a sexual response system. No one chooses this. Certain genders attract us. We don't choose this any more than we choose our eye color or right / left handedness.

Many people enter therapy when they can no longer deny that they have same-sex attraction and the pain of living "in the closet" is growing more unbearable with each passing day.