ABSTRACT
Emotional and physical attraction to and behavior with individuals of the same gender have been documented throughout recorded history and in cultures as diverse as those present in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and other parts of the world. A person who experiences same-gender attraction or engages in same-gender behavior, however, will not necessarily identify as lesbian or gay. Postmodernists would suggest that identity as lesbian or gay is a sociopolitical invention describing a subset of people at a certain time and place, just as identity as straight or heterosexual is a sociopolitical invention that describes a subset of people at a certain time and place.
