Some may tell others, but many keep secret their sexual identity. Another point on the continuum lays the people who break away from their wives and family in order to join the gay community and blend homosexuality into their daily lives. These men often hold custody of their children, who are aware that their father is gay. Many factors can affect a gay man's position on the continuum. Children, wives, friends, neighbors, religious beliefs, and society as a whole can change the man's position in expressing his homosexuality.
Children are important to homosexual fathers.
They are important to any father. Often it is hard for a gay father to tell his child about his homosexuality, for fear of hurting their relationship, but the reactions of the children have generally been positive. Overall, their knowledge of their father's homosexuality constituted only minor problems, if any. Other children had mixed emotions of confusion and anger. Other studies show that heterosexual parents have a greater tendency to provide their children with an opposite sex role model.