What to do when your son tells you he's gay.
Contents:
- YOUR CHILD JT TOLD YOU HE'S GAY. NOW WHAT?
- IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
- MANY PARENTS STGGLE TO ADJT AFTER LEARNG CHILD IS GAY, STUDY FDS
- THIS IS HOW I FELT WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY
- HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SON IS GAY
- IF MY SON WERE GAY. (WRTEN BY NOVA)
- WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"
- IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
- WHEN YOUR CHILD IS GAY
- THIS IS HOW I REALLY REACTED WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY
- HOW DO I KNOW IF MY SON IS GAY?
- EARLY SIGNS TO TELL YOUR CHILD IS GAY
- LIVGTOPICSALL LIVGSAVAGE LOVETRAVELASTROLOGYFROM THE VLTHEALTHSTYLELGBT+SEX & ROMANCEBT OF VANUVERTRANSPORATNCARTOONSHOMELS VANUVER SAVAGE LOVE COLUMNTHE SAME L SHOULD APPLY WHETHER YOUR SON IS GAY OR STRAIGHT
- MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?
YOUR CHILD JT TOLD YOU HE'S GAY. NOW WHAT?
Many parents stggle for years to adjt after learng child is gay, acrdg to a new study om Gee Washgton Universy public health rearchers. * if my son were 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.
IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
There's a new Android app out (here's the English versn) lled "Is My Son Gay?" which one n answer an easy seri of qutns ("Are you divorced?") that will tell you if, fact, your son is a gay person. * if my son were gay *
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. Watch gay-themed shows together such as "The Fosters" and "Will and Grace. 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.
MANY PARENTS STGGLE TO ADJT AFTER LEARNG CHILD IS GAY, STUDY FDS
If my son were gay, / I'd slap him / Wh a nice high five. / Bee g out to your parents tak balls that most men don't have. / If my son were gay, / I'd beat the hell out of him. / Bee he said he was better than me / At Super Smash / he bas. Published at the web's largt poetry se." name="scriptn * if my son were 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. For straight parents, havg a child reveal that he is gay n be a jolt.
You might ask how long he or she has known, and why he feels he is gay, bi, or trans, suggts Jonathan Tobk, M. D., a psychiatrist private practice New York Cy and the -thor of When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need to Know. You n fd one through the Associatn of Gay and Lbian Psychiatrists.
THIS IS HOW I FELT WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY
* if my son were gay *
Take the extra step and show your child that you are terted beg the parent of a gay child.
HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SON IS GAY
How Do I Know If My Son Is Gay? * if my son were gay *
Edute yourself on what means to be gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr.
IF MY SON WERE GAY. (WRTEN BY NOVA)
PFLAG, or Parents for Lbians and Gays, which now has a group for transgenr youth, and holds natnwi chapters and meetgs;.
Both lbians and gay men often have a history of cross-sex-typed behavrs: ltle boys beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg. Prehomosexual boys tend to be more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer.
Children who show pronounced sex-atypil behavrs may have more of a geic loadg to their homosexualy.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"
The behavral patterns are feared, loathed and often spoken of directly as harbgers of adult homosexualy.
IS MY SON GAY OR IS A PHASE?
It is only relatively recently, however, that velopmental scientists have nducted ntrolled studi to intify the earlit and most reliable signs of adult homosexualy.
In lookg refully at the childhoods of gay adults, rearchers are fdg an trigug set of behavral ditors that homosexuals seem to have mon. Curly enough, the age-old homophobic fears of many parents reflect some genue predictive currency.
WHEN YOUR CHILD IS GAY
Zucker, both psychologists, published a semal paper on childhood markers of homosexualy 1995. So on the basis of some earlier, shakier rearch, along wh a good dose of mon sense, Bailey and Zucker hypothized that homosexuals would show an verted pattern of sex-typed childhood behavrs—ltle boys preferrg girls as playmat and beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls strangely enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg—that sort of thg.
THIS IS HOW I REALLY REACTED WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY
Given that a small proportn of the populatn is homosexual, prospective studi require a large number of children.
Although only 12 percent of the women grew up to be genr dysphoric (the unfortable sense that your blogil sex do not match your genr), the odds of the women reportg a bisexual or homosexual orientatn were up to 23 tim higher than would occur a general sample of young women. Bailey and Zucker, who nducted a retrospective study which adults answered qutns about their past, revealed that 89 percent of randomly sampled gay men relled cross-sex-typed childhood behavrs exceedg the heterosexual median.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY SON IS GAY?
The thors found that “those targets who, as adults, intified themselv as homosexual were judged to be genr nonnformg as children. There is also evince of a “dosage effect”: the more genr-nonnformg characteristics there are childhood, the more likely is that a homosexual or bisexual orientatn will be prent adulthood. Not all ltle boys who like to wear drs grow up to be gay, nor do all ltle girls who spise drs bee lbians.
I took to middle school wrtlg as a rather scrawny 80-pound eighth grar, and so dog, ironilly beme all too nsc of my homosexual orientatn. Cross-cultural data show that prehomosexual boys are more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer; they are also ls likely to be childhood bulli.
EARLY SIGNS TO TELL YOUR CHILD IS GAY
Rearchers readily nce that there are que likely multiple—and no doubt extremely plited—velopmental rout to adult homosexualy.
LIVGTOPICSALL LIVGSAVAGE LOVETRAVELASTROLOGYFROM THE VLTHEALTHSTYLELGBT+SEX & ROMANCEBT OF VANUVERTRANSPORATNCARTOONSHOMELS VANUVER SAVAGE LOVE COLUMNTHE SAME L SHOULD APPLY WHETHER YOUR SON IS GAY OR STRAIGHT
Bee the data often reveal very early emergg tras prehomosexuals, children who show pronounced sex-atypil behavrs may have more of a geic loadg to their homosexualy, whereas gay adults who were sex-typil as children might trace their homosexualy more directly to particular childhood experienc. Why do parents worry so much about whether their child may or may not be gay?
MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?
All else beg equal, I spect we would be hard-prsed to fd parents who would actually prefer their offsprg to be homosexual. Evolutnarily, parental homophobia is a no-braer: gay sons and lbian dghters are not likely to reproduce (unls they get creative).