“Mom, Dad… I’m Gay.” A Christian Parent’s Rponse

Contents:

• WHERE WE STAND: GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS
• PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
• “MOM, DAD… I’M GAY.” A CHRISTIAN PARENT’S RPONSE
• 'RETURN THE KEY': THE PARENTS WHO REJECT THEIR GAY CHILDREN
• 10 TIPS FOR PARENTS OF GAY KIDS
• PARENTG A GAY CHILD
• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

WHERE WE STAND: GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS

Parents of gay children may be shocked when their kids e out of the closet, but once the dt settl, most parents realize that their child is the same one they have loved and red for all their liv, they jt happen to be gay. Rather I’d want him to see himself as creature ma God’s image, a man wh many parts to his inty, a person wh many gifts, a son wh a diverse character and personaly, one part of which, at least for the moment, is to have a homosexual sir. Celebry stori of heartbreakg parental rejectn are also November, the Amerin thor and producer Robyn Crawford released a book nfirmg she had had a romantic relatnship wh Whney Hoton – but had to abandon out of fear of the repercsns om Hoton’s by Oprah Wey if would have bothered her if her dghter was gay, Cissy Hoton said “Absolutely.

PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE

"Maybe you always had an klg that your kid was gay or transgenr, maybe you noticed your kid's affectn for a certa someone before they even regnized what those feelgs were, or you noticed certa role mols that they chose and ma some assumptns about what that meant about their inty... The prev edn, which was tled Lbian and Gay Parentg: A Rource for Psychologists (1995) was the succsor to a publitn tled Lbian Parents and Their Children: A Rource Paper for Psychologists that was jotly produced by CLGBC and CWP 1991.

The mte broaned the foc of the publitn to clu the empiril rearch on gay fathers, as well as lbian mothers, and the clil lerature relevant to psychologil servic for lbian and gay parents, their children, and their fai.

“MOM, DAD… I’M GAY.” A CHRISTIAN PARENT’S RPONSE

Unlike heterosexual parents and their children, however, lbian and gay parents and their children are often subject to prejudice bee of their sexual orientatn that n turn judg, legislators, profsnals, and the public agast them, sometim rultg negative out, such as loss of physil ctody, rtrictns on visatn, and prohibns agast adoptn (ACLU Lbian and Gay Rights Project, 2002; Appell, 2003; Patterson, Fulcher, & Waright, 2002).

'RETURN THE KEY': THE PARENTS WHO REJECT THEIR GAY CHILDREN

As wh beliefs about other socially stigmatized groups, the beliefs held generally society about lbians and gay men are often not based personal experience, but are equently culturally transmted (Herek, 1995; Gillis, 1998).

10 TIPS FOR PARENTS OF GAY KIDS

Systematic rearch on the children of lbian and gay parents began to appear major profsnal journals the late 1970s and has grown to a nsirable body of rearch only recent years (Allen & Demo, 1995; Patterson, 1992, 2000).

PARENTG A GAY CHILD

As this summary will show, the rults of existg rearch parg lbian and gay parents to heterosexual parents and children of lbian and gay parents to children of heterosexual parents are que clear: Common stereotyp are not supported by the data. The relevance of this cricism has been greatly rced as rearch has expand to explore life a wir array of lbian mother and gay father fai (many of which have never lived through the divorce of a heterosexual uple), and as newer studi beg to clu a wir array of ntrol groups.

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

Other cricisms have been that most studi have been based on relatively small sampl, that there have been difficulti wh asssment procr employed some studi, and that the classifitn of parents as lbian, gay, or heterosexual has been problematic. An expert readg of the Sarantakos article reveals that certa characteristics of s methodology and sample are highly likely to have skewed the rults and renred them an valid ditor of the well-beg of children raised by gay and lbian parents at least three rpects:.