Men holding hands. iStockphoto.com hide caption toggle caption iStockphoto.com Opinion 13.7: Cosmos And Culture Is There A Right Way To Be Gay? October 4, 2012 Is being gay different from being homosexual? If gayness is cultural, what does that mean as more gays assimilate into the mainstream? Commentator Barbara J. King casts an anthropologist's eye on author David Halperin's ideas about what it means to be gay.