Your Child Jt Told You He's Gay. Now What? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?
• 10 TIPS FOR PARENTS OF GAY KIDS
• HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILD WHO IS QUTNG OR INTIFI AS LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR ASEXUAL (LGBTQA)
• PARENTG A GAY CHILD
• YOUR CHILD JT TOLD YOU HE'S GAY. NOW WHAT?
• HOW DO I DISCS BEG GAY WH MY 8-YEAR-OLD?

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

But providg support isn't always easy — pecially if you are the parent of a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or qutng (LGBTQ) child. Advote for a gay-straight alliance (GSA), which has been shown to make schools safer and boost amic performance among LGBTQ stunts. Team up wh a pediatrician, a unselor at school, close fay members and even muny anizatns — for example, Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays (PFLAG) — if you’re havg trouble gog alone.

Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbian and Gays (PFLAG).

Dave, I have a 17-year-old son, and I am fairly sure he is gay. I psed on our lol PBS affiliate, where a huge choir was sgg, and after a few sends I realized was the Gay Men's Chos of some cy or another dog a fundraisg ncert.

10 TIPS FOR PARENTS OF GAY KIDS

At this time my life, I was 99 percent certa I was gay, though nowhere near ready to sprg on my parents. We had no gay people our liv back then, no way to gge my fay's level of tolerance.

We had no gay people our liv back then, no way to gge my fay's level of watched as they livered a rendn of what I remember as "Somewhere Over the Rabow, " bee eher they or my memory are unfivably basic. Stirrg and brave and subversive, g as did a time before marriage equaly was on the map, a time when you only saw gay people on the news. Good on you for not pot-blank askg your son whether he's gay.

It means one simple, pable thg: Once you have told your dad you're gay, there is no gog back.

HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILD WHO IS QUTNG OR INTIFI AS LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER OR ASEXUAL (LGBTQA)

Right now, he has to be secretive, not bee he's gay, but bee he's 17. I'd love to say that you should do a big, showy "Hey, I sure do like those gay people" at the dner table.

I wish were as simple and CBS-smy as ve the gay guy om work to fay bowlg night.

Dannielle Owens-Reid and Krist Rso, thors of This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids (released today! Don't: Ignore ItSo, your kid told you they were gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, or a member, some way, of the LGBTQ+ muny. Ask them about other kids they know who they n talk to about their qutns, and what thgs are like at their school (is there a Gay-Straight Alliance?

PARENTG A GAY CHILD

) lled This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids! "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...

YOUR CHILD JT TOLD YOU HE'S GAY. NOW WHAT?

We've met so many kids through our work whose parents asked, "Are you gay? DANNIELLE OWENS-REID and KRISTIN RUSSO are the founrs of the LGBTQ youth anizatn Everyone Is Gay as well as s pann se for fay members of LGBTQ people, The Parents Project.

This September they released their first book, This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Qutn & Answer Gui for Everyday Life (Chronicle, 2014). Fd them on Twter @everyoneisgay and @parentsproject. 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.

HOW DO I DISCS BEG GAY WH MY 8-YEAR-OLD?

Had I asked him if he were gay when he was 13, he probably would have fensively said "No! 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.

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.