The heartbreakg te story of the gay teen and his dad behd ‘Joe Bell’

Contents:

• SHOULD I LET MY (MAYBE) GAY TEENAGE SON HAVE SLEEPOVERS WH BOYS?
• THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’
• HOW ONE DAD HELPED HIS GAY TEEN SON COME OUT
• MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?

SHOULD I LET MY (MAYBE) GAY TEENAGE SON HAVE SLEEPOVERS WH BOYS?

Over the past year, however, I have bee creasgly nvced that he is gay. I’ve found gay porn on his laptop (y, I snoop; I pay the bill and I’m his dad), he’s shown ZERO tert girls, and he has always been a tad effemate, though I know that’s probably an unfair stereotype. I have no problem wh gay people and I support full equaly for same-sex upl.

And tly, if my son is gay, while I won’t pretend ’d be no big al and not require a b of mental adjtment, I’d love him and support him fully. But if my son were gay, I would have a different, stricter set of l regardg male iends. And if he’s not gay, I worry I uld serly damage our relatnship and hurt his pri by suggtg he is.

THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’

“Instead of a direct nontatn—are you gay or what?

HOW ONE DAD HELPED HIS GAY TEEN SON COME OUT

—DUD uld make gay issu a part of the day’s general nversatn. For stance, if a not-yet-out gay kid is crisis, or if a parent stumbl over evince that a not-yet-out gay kid is dog somethg risky, a parent n and should go the “are you gay or what? In your se, DUD, you already know your son is gay—“Browsers don’t lie, ” says Schwartz—and the fact that your son might be havg sex his room, thereby breakg dad’s hoe l, may rise to the level of “are you gay or what?

“If he’d tell a hetero boy to keep his door open, a gay boy should get the same msage, ” says Schwartz. While a uple of gay boys n get to trouble, DUD, and while sexually transmted fectns are a ncern, Gomer isn’t gog to knock up your son.

There aren’t many perks to beg a closeted gay teenager—a few sleepovers that the straight kids uldn’t get away wh might be a small nsolatn. John Schwartz shared your letter wh Joseph Schwartz, the gay son whose g-out story John tells Oddly Normal. Joseph thks ’s time for a gay sex talk.

MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?

“Gay kids need sex tn more than straight on, ” Joseph tells his dad. “There’s ls reliable rmatn about gay sex than there is about straight sex, ” Joseph says, so gay kids turn to the ter—or to porn—for rmatn and, as Joseph pots out, “half of uld be physilly dangero, and the rt is poorly explaed. What are the effects of perpetuatg the myth that gay men should all be tanned and chiseled Adonis?

Imag of perfect male bodi n fuel body-image issu both gay and straight men. Gay men particular are at higher risk of anorexia, bulimia, and “bigorexia, ” aka mcle dysmorphia, aka “gay du who liv at the gym.

Y, the media—gay and straight—foc too much on the young and the hot. But if you’re not seeg gay men of all ag, siz, shap, and lors, NAA, ’s bee you’re choosg not to see them. In April 2013, Joe Bell left his home La Gran, a small town the northeast rner of Oregon, to walk across the untry honor of his 15-year-old son, Jad, who had died Febary a few weeks after attemptg and his wife, Lola Lathrop, told lol and natnal news outlets at the time that Jad was bullied for beg gay, both onle and at school.