Dpe all the progrs LGBTQ+ rights the last few s, queer and genr-nonnformg people are still not fully accepted many muni. And sadly, for some LGBTQ+ dividuals, this rejectn n start right at home.Whether your immediate fay or relativ don’t support gay marriage or believe your sexualy is jt a “phase”, n be heartbreakg feelg unsupported by your loved on. You may feel as if you need to hi parts of yourself om specific fay members, are walkg on eggshells to avoid nontatn, or are exhsted om havg to nstantly te and fend your inty. Jt knowg that those clost to you may not approve of your inty n be paful and ’s important to know, however, that you’re not alone, and you do have optns. While you may not be able to ntrol how your fay reacts or change their mds, there are several ways you n migate your disfort and protect your mental health when an unacceptg environment. Whether you live wh unsupportive fay or see them a few tim a year, here are some tips to navigate tough fay dynamics.
Contents:
- GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?
- WAER HARASSG GAY PARENTS: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
- WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU SAW A WARS REFG TO SERVE GAY PARENTS?
- MISS MANNERS: NOSY WOMEN AT RETIREMENT MUNY ASK RINT ‘ARE YOU GAY?’ DURG DNER
- WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"
- GAY PARENTS
- THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH
GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?
The days, gay parents are no novelty. * gay family what would you do if *
The days, gay parents are no novelty: We see them strollg through our neighborhoods, participatg our PTA meetgs, and, perhaps most notably, appearg on our TV screens: Mchell and Cam, fathers to Lily, on the ratgs smash Morn Fay; Glee’s Sue Sylvter, expectant mom to a baby nceived wh an as-yet-unrevealed sperm donor, and Rachel’s dads, played wh humor and grace by Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stok.
The Hollywood exampl are important that they’ve helped prent gay parentg as not unlike straight parentg: challengg, joyful, plited, and most of all, entirely normal.
WAER HARASSG GAY PARENTS: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
* gay family what would you do if *
Though this media mastreamifitn of gay parentg is a relatively new phenomenon, for s, gay parents have had children all sorts of fay nfiguratns—whether through adoptn, prev heterosexual relatnships, or, creasgly, by choosg to have blogil offsprg g vro, surrogate, and other methods.
Last November Illois, Catholic Chari ceased s adoptn servic after the state refed fundg unls the groups agreed not to discrimate agast gays and lbians.
Although gay and lbian parents are a powerful rource for kids need of adoptn—at least half of all children foster re the U. Are livg wh adoptive gay parents—Catholic Chari simply qu the bs rather than ply. Earlier this month, when Print Obama announced his support for same sex marriage days after North Carola voted to ban , he changed the nversatn nsirably by argug that ncern for children is a reason to support, rather than oppose, gay marriage.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU SAW A WARS REFG TO SERVE GAY PARENTS?
What would you do if you saw a waer harassg a gay uple wh children at a der? ABC fds out g hidn meras at a der Brooklyn. What Would You Do? * gay family what would you do if *
He ced gay upl his own life, “same-sex upl who are as mted, as monogamo, as rponsible, as lovg a group of parents as any heterosexual uple that I know, ” he said. ” His support for gay marriage was self a landmark turn, but jt as notable was s direct affirmatn of gay upl as parents, which served to rebut the standard argument agast gay marriage—namely, that risks the well-beg of children and the fay.
They want to know: How will the children of gay parents fare?
Can kids raised homosexual hom turn out (gasp) okay? Throughout many years of workg wh fai, I’ve studied the liv of gay parents raisg sons and dghters.
MISS MANNERS: NOSY WOMEN AT RETIREMENT MUNY ASK RINT ‘ARE YOU GAY?’ DURG DNER
If someone close to you out as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, you may be unsure about how you feel about or how to rpond. Here's our on supportg them. * gay family what would you do if *
In general, gay parents tend to be more motivated, more mted, and more thoughtful parents than heterosexual upl.
In my work, I routely saw how, wh enough support om their fai, children of gay parents veloped skills at thkg penntly and standg up for what they believed . Much of the ncern for the children of gay parents has centered specifilly on boys, who as a group have seemed, pecially recent years, prey to nfn, rentment, and stctivens—somethg creded to the risg proportn of mal beg reared fatherls hom. Will they grow up to be gay?
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"
What would you do if you saw a wars refg service to gay parents? * gay family what would you do if *
And, fact, all the rearch has reported children of gay parents feel ls bound, ls rtricted, by genr stereotyp than those raised straight hoeholds. But kids of gay parents do often face discrimatn, and ’s not always the easit childhood (though show me one that is). Perhaps as a by-product of the discrimatn they sometim face, children of gay parents tend to be more sensive to others and to the posive and negative feelgs themselv.
And they have no greater chance of “turng gay” than the child wh the straight parents next door.
GAY PARENTS
Learn how to help your child pe wh the challeng of beg raised by gay parents. Fd out everythg you need to know about parentg. " emprop="scriptn * gay family what would you do if *
Science has proven that homosexualy has blogil roots, and if we believe that is neher a choice nor an unlucky orientatn, then we n relax and tst that the young men and women will fd out what possibily naturally to them. As one boy, 10-year-old Kenny, told me matter-of-factly, “I’ll know if I’m gay or straight when I’m olr. Of urse, children of gay parents may ponr their sexual orientatn at an early age, and tablish the terms of their sexualy wh more self-nscns than most other young adults.
But most children of gay parents will ultimately grow up to be straight, if only bee most children grow up to be straight—perd. In a 2007 paper published the Amerin Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 28 out of 46 adults wh at least one gay parent spontaneoly offered that they felt more open-md and empathetic than people not raised their suatn.
THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The children I studied, and those growg up around now—those kids beg raised by gay moms and dads lovg, nurturg hom—promise to offer, as adults, the bt characteristics of men and women. Whether your immediate fay or relativ don’t support gay marriage or believe your sexualy is jt a “phase”, n be heartbreakg feelg unsupported by your loved on.
If you jt have a feelg that your brother is gay, that's okay. If you thk your brother is gay bee he watch a "girly" TV show or his voice sounds a certa way, that's relyg on stereotyp. If you live a particularly homophobic or transphobic area, discs safety plans wh the fay member se of vlence om others.