How Christian Parents Should Rpond to Their Child's Gay Inty Crisis | U.S. News

Contents:

• HOW CHRISTIAN PARENTS SHOULD RPOND TO THEIR CHILD'S GAY INTY CRISIS
• WHAT ARE CHRISTIANS TO DO WH THOSE PKY GAY CHILDREN?
• HOW SHOULD CHRISTIAN PARENTS RPOND IF ONE OF THEIR CHILDREN OUT AS GAY?
• TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN
• WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ADOPTED KIDS OF ANTI-GAY PARENTS COME OUT?
• SUPPORT FOR PARENTS OF CHILD WHO SAYS HE’S GAY
• THE GAY AND TRANS CHILDREN OF EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN FAI
• SHOULD CHRISTIANS “DISOWN” GAY SONS AND DGHTERS?
• IF I HAVE GAY CHILDREN: FOUR PROMIS FROM A CHRISTIAN PASTOR/PARENT

HOW CHRISTIAN PARENTS SHOULD RPOND TO THEIR CHILD'S GAY INTY CRISIS

When a child first out to their parents as eher beg gay or havg same-sex attractn, their ial rpons are ually the wrong on, says Chris Doyle, a psychotherapist who specializ York Cy gay pri para crowd this undated photo. "Sce homosexualy is beg more wily accepted Amerin society, an creasg number of teens who experience SSA are intifyg as gay. They believe that if you experience same-sex attractns, then you're gay, " Doyle told the negative rpons parents have, acrdg to Doyle, are avoidg the issue by barrg their child om talkg about SSA or their gay inty; believg that 's a passg phase; or threateng to kick their olr teen or 20-somethg child out of the hoe.

"We know, our clil rearch over the last 25 years, that fay culture, environment and other non-blogil factors play a signifint role the velopment of same-sex attractn, " he asserted, addg that parents shouldn't seek therapy as an attempt to change their the book, Gay Children, Straight Parents: A Plan for Fay Healg, wrten by Richard Cohen, executive director of IHF, Doyle said 12 prcipl are discsed to help fai navigate through SSA and s . "Regardg sleepovers and big life events such as parents' attendg a child's same-sex weddg ceremony, Doyle suggted that parents treat their homosexual child the same as they would their heterosexual the se of sleepovers, parents should mata the same standards for every child and not allow their gay intified or SSA child to have somone they're attracted to spend the night wh them.

"The same l should apply to heterosexual upl and homosexual upl, " he when down to attendg a child's gay weddg ceremony, Doyle suggted that attendg the ceremony don't necsarily reflect that the parents agree wh same-sex marriage, their prence merely shows their love for their child. Last month, two very high profile Christian lears, Frankl Graham and Jam Dobson, addrsed publicly on a rad program how they believe Christians and the church should rpond to LGBT people, and specifilly to gay children.

WHAT ARE CHRISTIANS TO DO WH THOSE PKY GAY CHILDREN?

The accurate statements they ma are the typ of accuraci that have led well-meang Christian parents to throw their gay children out of their home, that have led gay children to abandon their fah, and that have even led LGBTQ children to take their own liv.

On Christian foms that provi emotnal support for gay teens and young adults that are nsirg “g out” to their fai, is standard practice to advise the young people to have alternate livg arrangements place prr to “g out.

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIAN PARENTS RPOND IF ONE OF THEIR CHILDREN OUT AS GAY?

I was talkg to some Christians and they were talkg about how they ved the gay children to e to their home and to e to the church and that they were wantg to fluence them. A moment later, after sayg that gay people uld go to heaven if they repented of their ss and accepted Christ, Graham said: “You nnot stay gay and ntue to ll yourself a Christian. It appears that Graham thks that beg gay is a choice, sce he suggts people n jt stop beg gay.

TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN

We n have great and lengthy theologil bat about what the Bible says about sexual relatnships as relat to beg gay, but there n be no bate about the origs of sexual orientatn bee the Bible never speaks to the subject.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ADOPTED KIDS OF ANTI-GAY PARENTS COME OUT?

To draw our nclns about the origs of sexual orientatn, we have to turn to the life experience of flh and blood gay people and what they tell about how they me to be gay, as well as, for those of who are heterosexual, our life experienc about how we me to be straight. Some gay people say they knew they were different long before those first actual sexual attractns appeared on the scene.

Will beg around gay children lead my children to bee too passnate toward gay people?

We n’t be sure what Graham meant by his remendatn to quarante our children and our church om gay children. So let’s al wh the related qutns–all about the fluence that gay children might have on our hom or our church. 9:36-38) I n thk of few people better scribed by the phrase “harassed and helpls, like sheep whout a shepherd” than a gay child.

SUPPORT FOR PARENTS OF CHILD WHO SAYS HE’S GAY

That sounds very different om Graham’s ll to avoid or reject harassed and helpls gay children. Send, ’s possible that Graham is sayg that gay children might fluence our children to bee gay. What you’ll hear–and what I’ve learned om nversatns wh many gay people and om readg the stori of numero others—is that almost universally (and by that, I mean I have yet to see an exceptn) the first reactn of every gay person was that they didn’t want to be gay.

THE GAY AND TRANS CHILDREN OF EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN FAI

That gay child Graham says not to reach out to didn’t choose to be gay, and your child isn’t gog to choose to be gay unr their “fluence.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS “DISOWN” GAY SONS AND DGHTERS?

Third, ’s possible that Graham is repeatg the age-old fear that beg around gay people will somehow jt naturally lead to more people beg gay—as if ’s ntag.

This might be ferred om Graham’s ncern that if Christian fai reach out to gay children to fluence them wh the gospel, those gay children will somehow fluence the children of those parents stead, prumably to beg gay. Now logilly, if sexual orientatn is ntag, might be possible that beg heterosexual would be ntag, too—and wh 95-97% of nng around as heterosexuals not rg who we fect, if that were the se, “gay” should be elimated by now.

Many gay people have even married heterosexually, hopg would change their orientatn. Let’s face , spe our society’s alleged enlightenment, our society is not now and never has been pro-gay for children and teenagers.

IF I HAVE GAY CHILDREN: FOUR PROMIS FROM A CHRISTIAN PASTOR/PARENT

Gay children—rather than beg people the church should turn out—are among the most disenanchised members of our society.

Not only is Graham’s advice to church dangero to gay children, ’s also dangero to the church. I realize that Graham would say he was referrg to Satan, but his words left the unavoidable implitn that the gay children the Christians sought to fluence were part of the enemy’s plot. Y, but ’s not gay children—and even if were, J said to love our enemi and overe evil wh good.

The few found words—that gay people n be saved but they have to repent of their ss and accept J as their Lord—apply to all of .