“I woke up gay”

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Sabina Becker

Are all gay people just “born this way”? Most apparently are. But a rare few, including the young man in the documentary above, find their sexual orientation changed when their brains are suddenly altered by a cerebrovascular accident…a stroke. Chris Birch has lost large chunks of his memory, and with it, his former self — a heterosexual, chubby, “chavvy”, rugby-playing bank clerk with a lengthy string of girlfriends. Now a hairdresser making plans to marry his boyfriend, he’s trying to piece together a coherent picture of who he was, and how he became the person he is. He’s also trying to reconnect with old friends and family from whom he became alienated as a result of his stroke. He is certain that the stroke changed his entire sexual orientation, as well as wiping out his old personality and the memories that came with it. And since being gay is indeed a state of brain, it turns out that he is right. He is literally a different person since his stroke, and it is all because of a fundamental change in the structures of his brain.

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3 Responses to “I woke up gay”

  1. thwap says:
    April 19, 2012 at 7:14 PM

    An acquaintance of mine had his wife suffer from some rare ailment. When she recovered, she was the same person but not quite.

    She had totally different mannerisms.

  2. thwap says:
    April 19, 2012 at 7:21 PM

    … [accidentally hit the “Submit Comment” button] … and she found him to be completely incompatible with him.

    It was strange. She hated the way their place looked. Switched careers. Acted completely different. The doctors said it was an occasional product of the illness.

    • Sabina Becker says:
      April 19, 2012 at 8:15 PM

      That makes sense, in light of what I learned from the video. If enough brain cells die, and the brain is forced to rewire itself, a whole new personality can result. And existing relationships can suffer and die too, as a result.

      I wonder how many other cases of changed sexual orientation as a result of stroke are out there, simply not reported yet.

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