Parents of gay children may go through an adjtment perd when they fd out their child is gay, but there is support for parents of gay children.
Contents:
- PARENTG A GAY CHILD
- PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
- STARS WHO HAVE GAY CHILDREN
- IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
PARENTG A GAY CHILD
Many of the straight parents I terviewed for When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know exprsed havg felt disappotment learng that their child was LGBT. Would he be fired at his job if his supervisors found out that he were gay?
Would he have to live a gay-iendly neighborhood? Natalie, 63, a mother om Long Island, found out that two of her three children were gay. " Natalie felt that was a loss to the fay geic pool and kept wonrg if beg gay was a choice.
PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
Richard Ogawa of Seattle figured out he was gay llege. Richard told me, "Perhaps if every parent toyed wh the possibily that any of their children uld be gay, would change the way they raise their children. Gay children are no different—so ltle of their sexual orientatn has to do wh who they are as a whole.
"It is rare to work wh parents of a gay child who have not stggled wh the feelg of loss at some pot the procs of acceptg their child as gay, " my -thor, Jonathan Tobk, M. Parents feel sad that their gay child has lost the possibily of havg a life whout signifint difficulty. " Yet Tobk has found that "gay people tell you they are happy wh who they are and feel that they have emerged on the other si of g out as strong, sensive, and rilient dividuals.
STARS WHO HAVE GAY CHILDREN
Havg a gay child is not a loss of a child altogether. I remember that when I disvered that my son was gay, I felt shame.
Bee of society's expectatns that everyone should live a bary world, I envisned that havg a gay child uld be looked upon as a stigma. I didn't like the posn that I was thst to once I found out my son was gay.
Acrdg to psychiatrist Jonathan Tobk, -thor of my book, When Your Child Is Gay, "guilt tends to be limed to an actn that we have taken or not taken, whereas shame is a pervasive negative emotn about how we feel overall. A straight parent, Dorothy spected that her son Kev was gay and tried to redirect him.
IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
Once ashamed of havg a gay son, now Dorothy refers gay people the muny to her ntal office, where she is a ntal hygienist.
The ntist's office is known as "the office of the gay muny" bee of Dorothy's support. Siarly, Jab Thomas, origally om Northern Geia, was ashamed of beg gay. "Gay and lbian children should not only get the msage that they are loved, but also that they are not damaged or ls than.