I have recently been entertaining myself with the idea of the linkage between gays and creativity. I discussed it with many people with different backgrounds and opinions, and I give it much though myself. In reality, there is a general notion – positive stereotype that is attached to gay people and link them to creativity.
Ofcourse generalizing among a set of people in any attribute whether it is positive or negative is prone to carry an amount of error. Stereotyping is a kind of generalization that is usually proved mistaken when measured upon individuals, but it can also carry some amount of truth for it doesn’t come up of no where.
I have found no real scientific studies/statistics that link homosexuality to creativity, but gays can be easily spotted in the creative industry locally and around the world. One would argue that creative industries are more tolerant for the differences of people, and thus gay people would find it easier coming out without hiding their sexual identities, but the observations of the numbers (which might be wrong) do indicate a larger ration of gay people in creative jobs than in society at large. A visit to a fashion house, advertising agency, or the faculty of art in a college might give a closer view.
Creativity itself is a wide concept. Wickipedia defines it as a mental process involving the generation of new ideas and concepts. Generation of new ideas is not limited on some considered to be creative industry. In every job, there is a space for creativity. People may shine anywhere. Claiming that only gay people are capable of being creative is absurd at least, but whether there a is correlation between the two attributes is something that is worth investigation.
A reasonable explanation of the creativity of gay people is that breaking the barriers of social rules that gay people has to go through in order to embrace their sexuality does leave them with no real boundaries that may limit their scope of thinking. Viewing society from a different perspective may be an advantage of a focal point for generation new ideas. Other non homosexual people who do break so social norms in a way or another are more likely to be creative than others who are limited with chains of inherited set of rules and ideas. It does explain the small ration of creative people in the Arab world compared to the western world for us trying to dictate every aspect of our lives through a set of rules attached to what we call our religion.
But does that explain the childhood emerged talents of creative people?
Some gay people prove their talent in their early childhoood before even realizing their sexuality and what does it mean. They show such talent without also having to break any social rule or defined constraint. I remember at the age of 10, one of my friends at school had the ability to draw a full features faces on the black board. I have no idea about his sexual orientation, but this is a living example of the emerging childhood talents.
Does childhood creativity indicates a genetic linkage? It may, and it may not. I sometimes wonder if there are a set of bundled genes that can come up togather which explains partially some stereotypes. I mean that there might be a linkage between a set of homosexual genes along of a set of creativity genes that may explain the attachment of gay people to creativity.
A simple reasoniong came from a religious view of a friend of mind: God takes something and gives something else instead, like having handicapped people being smart!
The explanation might sound offensive for gay people, as they don’t consider their sexual orientation a shortage that requires a compensation from God, and while there might be some smart handicapped people, it is absurd to generalize among them all. Still the notion of a bundled genes appears instinctly in such claim.
One other aspect that is worth mentioning here is the reasoning of the feminine side of gay men and the attachment of femininity to creativity. Claiming that gay men are more attached to their feminine side than straight men. While scientific studies proved some difference between the gay and straight brains, linking it to femininity is arguable. Besides, the whole argument is easily bounced by the amount of creative men through the history of humanity. How many of them were gay? That is impossible to prove.
Whether there is a link between being gay and being creative is arguable. Positive stereotyping may encourage more and more gay people to be more creative. Believing in something is a first step of achieving it. It is encourageable to positive stereotype oneself in order to get better achievments. Whether you are gay or not, positive stereotyping can be good for you, and does help your creative side shine.
Fadi Zaghmout 
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