Some people don't date much until after HS. Some people are good at hiding their sexuality.

denied by parents if it's something that they don't want to admit.

When my brother came out to my Mom, she called me and said this:
"Your brother just told me something that I think you must have known for a long time".

talk about projection.

she was of the generation that believed it was something that SHE had caused to happen, and she suffered about that far longer than necessary, no matter how much we "kids" tried to tell her otherwise.

She carried a burden of guilt for several years (much of it placed on her by her own mother) until she finally came to grips with it. Over time she has been able to accept her daughter and her partner and they have healed their relationship.

And either: 1). Not knowing your own child well enough to know his/her sexual orientation. 2). Not accepting your child's orientation, or, 3). Being ashamed of it.

Never showed any real interest in boys either. She went to both of her proms with her female best friends. My wife and I wondered, more than once, whether she might be lesbian. We even asked her once, and she denied it, saying that "dating is dumb, people just want sex, and I don't want to be distracted by that". Even after that discussion we wondered whether she might still be coming to terms with it herself, and thought that she just might not be ready to discuss it (which is admittedly a bit odd, as my wife and I are both pretty open about our bisexuality, and nudity around my household wasn't an uncommon thing, so there were no social barriers under my roof). We let it drop and assumed that she'd talk about it when (if) she was ready.

We now know, since she's gone off to college, that she has also started dating and is now seeing somebody regularly. A guy. She's straight. Has been all along. She was being honest when she said that high school boys just didn't do anything for her. She needed someone a bit more mature and intellectual, and didn't find one until she got to college.

We, her own parents, didn't know what her sexuality was until after she'd moved out of our house. It happens, And from what I've gathered talking to other parents, it's not even all that unusual.

to see what kind of porn they're watching.

LOL FAIL!

by his grandmother when she found porn sites in her browser history. Well, actually, it was my wife who found them, when she was cleaning out all the malware those porn sites had introduced on her PC. His grandmother was not amused, to put it mildly.

BTW, he's heterosexual.

My daughter is now in her mid-teens. I found out with a conversation that went something like this: "What are you giggling about?" "I have a crush on someone." "Oh? what's his name." "..." "Or is it 'her' name?" "*giggle* it's a her" "Oh, I see. So, what's she like? How did you meet her? etc..."

I was a bit surprised only because of my own bias (well, that and she has liked a boy before). My daughter was always a girly-girl. Loved frou-frou dress up clothing, hair bows and make up. Played only with dolls and barbies, HATED cars (I had bought her cars and trains etc. she never touched them). She was in ballet. Pink was her favorite color. Hated sports. I, stupidly, assumed if she was gay she wouldn't be so 'girly'. I should know better - my now-ex husband used to call me 'butchy' and I'm not gay or bi at all. It makes me wonder about this dad in that post 'knowing' about his son being gay since the son was 6. How? Because he liked dolls and dresses? That's silly. Not every boy who likes pink or plays with dolls will be gay, and not every macho football player will be straight. Just like not every girly girl will be straight and every tomboy will be gay. Those are meaningless stereotypes. Anyhow...

What bothers me is people scared to 'turn' their child gay. A good friend of mine refused to clothe her son in red or light blue, because 'red was close to pink' and 'light blue was a girl's color'. WTF? Mostly he wore black, navy, brown, dark green and white. I thought that was a bit much. Let's just say I haven't told this friend about my daughter yet.

And if the person doesn't fit the stereotypes, and is keeping a secret, then how would you know?

When a youth is growing up in a home that is homophobic it's not surprising he would cover up that aspect of himself.

Lots of people live closeted gay lives without the people around them guessing. I grew up in a liberal family where we sometimes talked about gay people (I had gay and lesbian friends) and gay rights but none of us guessed that my father himself was gay. He had four babies with my mother before she finally found out; and the rest of us didn't learn till we were adults and they told us -- once they finally decided to get a divorce.

People who want to act straight can.

my son is shy....
didn't know whether he was gay or straight.
wouldn't matter to me, I love him no matter what.

turns out he's straight but I didn't know until senior year of high school.

Different people are different combinations of shy, open, accepting, afraid, private, ashamed, curious, proud, and confused -- about everything, not just sexuality. People exhibit love and concern in different ways. People change, people understand themselves better over time, or they hide their true feelings over time. My son is currently dating a young woman; while I doubt it, it's possible he's decided that pretending he's straight as he navigates through school in a very small town is the best thing to do. He could come out the day after graduation, or the day after tomorrow. Or he's straight. I would be surprised if he told me he were gay. But it's entirely possible; people do what they feel like they have to do.