Everybody's Gay....

Today with my 14 year old students I had a rather strange conversation.
I was helping my students with a physics project that they are doing and one of the girls suddenly blurted out 'everybody is gay,' I laughed feeling immediately awkward as none of my student know I am gay and we began to talk about this topic.
She began to tell me that, in her opinion, everybody has to pass through this 'gay stage' of life and that at some point we will all pass through the 'gay station' never actually buying a ticket for the gay train!
I was suprised by her attitude as in this society, the one in which she has been raised, homosexuality is not something that is openly expressed or readily accepted.
We continued with this conversation and the three students involved in the conversation were all very open minded and willing to admit that yes, they are aware of the fact that they will probably pass through a 'gay phase.'
They all seemed terribly surprised when I told them that about ten percent of the population are gay and that in the classroom there had to be at least one gay person.
I then saw the other side of this open minded coin when another student who for me stands out as being a lesbian, aggressively responded that she was not gay and would never pass through that stage in her life.
I began to wonder if these conversations make her nervous because she is terrified of being discovered or because she still has not accepted the fact that she is gay.
When I was that age I knew that I had feelings for the same sex, however, I tried my hardest to fit in and did all the appropriate things for a teenage girl my age, there was no way you could have known that I was gay.
With the re-election of Obama in the States and the hope that inspired for women and the idea of equal rights for all, I was filled with hope because I hope that one day kids who are gay or lesbian or are bisexual and are confused, can feel free to accept themselves and be open about how they are instead of trying desperately to hid themselves constantly.
I also wonder if this type of world in which everybody is free and equal will ever exist?
We have made many developments but we also seem to have taken many steps backwards.
I also wonder how a free world would be?
If we were all open and all the taboos, stigmas and labels were erased how would we all co-exist?
Would it be the same or would the idea of individuality be lessened to the point where we were all just the same?
So many questions and so few answers, but I will watch and see how it all works out from my permanent seat on the Gay Train.

D.Mount