Animal roleplay and furry fandom īears marching in San Francisco's pride parade in 2004
Among older LGBT populations, pets may have a positive impact on a person's mental health and feeling of social support, but may act as a net stressor on gay and bisexual men diagnosed with illness, such as prostate cancer. This is due to the fact that gay and bisexual men are more likely to live alone, and less likely to have children than heterosexual men. Within some queer communities, there has been an urban myth surrounding lesbian households being more likely to own cats, 'with free spirited feline self-sufficiency making cats an essential accoutrement to all lesbian’s lives, providing a mirror to their owners' challenge to the hetero-patriarchal social order.' Although little academic research has been done on pet ownership among sexual minorities, it has been noted that gay and bisexual men may be more likely look to pets as a means of support. In the United States, polls indicate that LGBT adults are more likely to own pets than heterosexual adults, and child-free LGBT households are more likely to own pets than child-free heterosexual households.
