# Are gay men nicer than straight men? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225 "2017-07-27T02:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/21 "2017-07-27T23:16:17Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I would say gay men are about as nice as jews or irishmen, give or take. How about gay jews or black irish? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/22 "2017-07-28T00:14:42Z")
> **[Empathy Is Related to Sexual Orientation | Newswise](https://www.newswise.com/articles/empathy-is-related-to-sexual-orientation)** > > The study, led by Professor Simone Shamay-Tsoory of the University of Haifa found that, in addition to gender, differences in empathy between people is rel > [@](#): > > The study revealed that sexual orientation is related to the level of empathy: based on self-reporting, heterosexual women showed the highest level of empathy, followed by gay men, then lesbian women, and finally heterosexual men. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/23 "2017-07-28T01:58:04Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [Empathy Is Related to Sexual Orientation | Newswise](http://www.newswise.com/articles/empathy-is-related-to-sexual-orientation) I saw that article, and it was part of the reason I posted this question. I found it very interesting, how people who are attracted to men apparently tend to have higher empathy. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/24 "2017-07-28T02:15:30Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > How about gay jews or black irish? I don’t want to generalize so I’ll just say gay jews owe me twenty bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/25 "2017-07-28T04:31:41Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/26 "2017-07-28T05:16:19Z")
In my experiences, I’ve noticed that many gay men are superficially nicer but venomous just beneath the surface. (Anecdote =/ data. I know) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/27 "2017-07-28T05:57:06Z")
I would say the majority of all men are decent nice people, with occasional bad things they do or mistakes they have made affecting me makes them seem worse than they are. Gay men are a subset of all men. There was a period of my life where, by coincidence, most of my closest friends were gay, and they were no different to any of the straight guys I knew at that same time. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/28 "2017-07-28T06:42:51Z")
It’s my misfortune in life to deal with nasty misogynistic gay men and dumbass misogynistic bro-dudes in somewhat equal measure. IMHO there’s not a lot of difference in the percentages between the groups. I should say that I am what they now call a cis-male. “Nicer” isn’t the same thing as “less racist” or “not racist” though. This is a complicated discussion I can’t weigh in on comprehensively. I can offer as an example the experience of gays in Chicago, something I’ve read a bit about. When AIDS hit, there was a concerted effort to mobilize medical resources for the gay community; however, these tended to be concentrated in the more well-off and whiter North Side. Gays of color (or straights of color) weren’t turned away at the clinics, were welcomed, but it was a hell of a long round-trip bus ride from the South Side for free AZT. Is that racist? In intent, no, structurally, I’d say yes. Which means that white gays however well intentioned live in the same badly structured society we all live in. As an aside, I totally do not get the epithet SJW. I’m not a warrior, but I am certainly in favor of social justice. If that’s meant a pejorative, I assume the person using it is in favor of social injustice. That’s a good look! (PLEASE NOTE: I am being sarcastic.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225/29 "2017-07-28T08:17:41Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I saw that article, and it was part of the reason I posted this question. I found it very interesting, how people who are attracted to men apparently tend to have higher empathy. To the extent there might be a slight bias towards increased empathy amongst the gay population, I would posit this is the likely reason for it: > [@SanVito](#): > > Really, people are people, nice and not nice, and their sexual preference doesn’t really have anything to do with it. > > An argument ‘could’ be mooted that when you are part of an abused minority, you may feel more empathy towards other abused minorities, and that will certainly be true of ‘some’ people. But it’s by no means a given. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-gay-men-nicer-than-straight-men/792225.md?page=1)