Photo by Twter/Sally Kohn One mother’s say, which stat her sire for her 6-year-old dghter to be gay, has triggered a bate about parentg and genr stereotyp. Sally Kohn, a CNN ntributor, liv wh her partner Sarah Hansen and their dghter Willa Hansen-Kohn Brooklyn, New York. If we vote Democrat, of urse we want our kids to vote Democrat.” STORY: How to Deal When Your Parent Com Out Twter boiled over wh reactns, rangg om llg the polil pund “sad” for promotg the ia that beg gay is a choice to praise for the “betiful” say which reflected posive parentg. Yahoo Parentg uld not reach Kohn for ment, but on Saturday she tweeted, “Dear people, please read my @washgtonpost piece a b more refully before accg me of thgs I didn’t wre.” STORY: How Comg Out Can Make Teens Happier at School While Kohn, who lls beg gay an “asset” and a “gift,” unrstands that her views are unnventnal, she explas that any objectns to her parentg style might reflect people’s own bias.
Contents:
- OPN I’M GAY. AND I WANT MY KID TO BE GAY, TOO.
- I’M TRYG TO RAISE MY KIDS AS HOMOSEXUALS (AND I NEVER EVEN HAVE TO SAY ‘GAY’)
- WHEN YOUR CHILD IS GAY
- I N'T FIVE MY DGHTER FOR BEG GAY
- MANY PARENTS STGGLE TO ADJT AFTER LEARNG CHILD IS GAY, STUDY FDS
- I DON'T WANT MY TEEN HANGG AROUND GAY PARENTS
- IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
- MOM WHO WANTS HER KID TO BE GAY SPARKS CONVERSATN
- IF THEY 'SAY GAY,' WILL MY CHILD BE SAFE? PARENTS OF LGBTQ KIDS ARE SRED OF PYT LAWS
OPN I’M GAY. AND I WANT MY KID TO BE GAY, TOO.
'When I look back at the photos of Sarah as a ltle girl, I n't help but feel sad.' One mother and her gay dghter talk wh utter ankns about the schism her sexualy has ed wh their fay * i don t want my child to be gay *
They immediately clocked as gay, while we immediately clocked them as we warmed up to another, one mom anxly said: "I have a qutn: I am pretty sure my son is gay, but I don't know what to do. "For example, if someone the word "gay" place of "stupid, " remd them that the two are not terchangeable, and suggt they should say what they actually mean stead. "The rourc n help:PFLAG: The untry’s largt anizatn ung parents, fai, and alli wh people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and Spectm: Offers groups, trag, and rourc promotg genr sensivy and cln for all youthGLBT Natnal Rource Database: LGBTQ+ digal directory of rourcNatnal Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network: Directory of therapists/unselors who are people of lorNatnal LGBTQ Task Force: The progrsive advocy arm of the LGBTQ+ movementDurg LGBTQ Pri Month, TODAY is sharg the muny’s history, pa, joy and what’s next for the movement.
I’M TRYG TO RAISE MY KIDS AS HOMOSEXUALS (AND I NEVER EVEN HAVE TO SAY ‘GAY’)
Many parents stggle for years to adjt after learng child is gay, acrdg to a new study om Gee Washgton Universy public health rearchers. * i don t want my child to be gay *
As I relayed When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know (Sterlg, 2016), I found out that my son was gay om a note wh our son's name entwed wh another boy's, surround by a heart. I had spected at tim that he was gay. Had I asked him if he were gay when he was 13, he probably would have fensively said "No!
WHEN YOUR CHILD IS GAY
My teen's iend's parents are gay * i don t want my child to be gay *
San Berland, the mother of a gay son who ach parents of LGBTQ kids, utn, "It's not a good ia to ask. Acrdg to my -thor, psychiatrist Jonathan Tobk, "Gay children feel credibly vulnerable when g out to their parents, and tak time to work up the urage to do this.
I N'T FIVE MY DGHTER FOR BEG GAY
What to do when your son tells you he's gay. * i don t want my child to be gay *
Mol acceptance by not g gay slurs and never tellg gay jok.
Watch gay-themed shows together such as "The Fosters" and "Will and Grace. " How do they pict gay people?
React kdly to gay people the news or on televisn. In a way, you have an advantage by not knowg; giv you more time to prepare for the day (if ever) when he do reveal he's gay. I’m gay.
MANY PARENTS STGGLE TO ADJT AFTER LEARNG CHILD IS GAY, STUDY FDS
And I want my kid to be gay, of my straight iends, even the most liberal, see this logic as warped. Perhaps he jt meant that ’s easier to be straight a homophobic culture.
But was impossible to know whether he meant to sulate me om the world’s bias or implicly ratnalize his ia that no one would choose to be gay is wily held — even the gay rights movement.
I DON'T WANT MY TEEN HANGG AROUND GAY PARENTS
In the early '90s, partly as a rponse to the stctive notn that gay people uld be changed, activists prsed the ia of sexualy as a fixed, nate state. Scientists even tried to prove that there's a "gay gene. The ia that folks are "born gay" beme not only the theme of a Lady Gaga song, but the implic ratnale for gay rights.
“I wouldn’t even choose for myself to be gay, ” a iend once told me. It was a sad admissn, bee she upon a time, of urse, “gay” meant “happy.
Gay beme an unfortunate, even piable stat. When the gay liberatn activist Frankl Kameny lnched a simple effort 1968 to proclaim that “gay is good, ” was bee, at the time, very much wasn’t. Until 1973, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn nsired homosexualy a form of mental illns.
IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
And while gay-posive culture has flourished sce, our aspiratns haven’t kept pace. It’s more wily acceptable to be gay Ameri today, but that’s not the same as beg sirable. In my hoe, though, you might expect me to say somethg about how, if my dghter were gay, she would undoubtedly face challeng and hurdl she wouldn’t enunter if she were straight.
But if my dghter wants to be an artist, I’ll enurage her all the way — and work to stroy any barriers along her path, not put them up, I’ve never for a sgle send regretted beg gay, nor saw as anythg other than an asset and a gift. By the time my dghter of age, she’ll have even more of a support work, cludg two moms, for cryg out than that, though, beg gay opened my ey to the world around me.
Learng that not every gay person had as good as I did helped me realize that a lot of people general didn’t have as good as I did. I wouldn’t be a polilly engaged human beg, let alone an activist, wrer and TV personaly, if I weren’t my dghter is gay, I don’t worry about her havg a hard life. I want my dghter to know that beg gay is equally sirable to beg straight.
MOM WHO WANTS HER KID TO BE GAY SPARKS CONVERSATN
The problem is not the ia that homosexualy uld be a choice but the ia that heterosexualy should be pulsory.
We’ve bought every picture book featurg gay fai, even the not-very-good on, and we have most of the nontradnal-genr-role books as well — about the prcs who lik to fight dragons and the boy who lik to wear my dghter plays hoe wh her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remd her that they uld be a dad and dad.
IF THEY 'SAY GAY,' WILL MY CHILD BE SAFE? PARENTS OF LGBTQ KIDS ARE SRED OF PYT LAWS
It’s her I ultimately re about is that she has the choice and that whatever choice she mak is enthiastilly embraced and will tell, but so far, don’t look like my 6-year-old dghter is gay. I’m a slightly overbearg pro-gay gay mom. Correctn: An earlier versn of this article rrectly stated that the Amerin Psychologil Associatn classified homosexualy as a form of mental illns until 1973.