Gay Kids Comg Out Younger, But Parents Ask "How Do You Know?"

Contents:

• SUPPORTG A GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE MIDDLE SCHOOL
• GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
• GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• AM I GAY? QUIZ - FOR MIDDLE-SCHOOL KIDS ?‍❤️‍?‍?
• THE LATT PH: "GAY" CLUBS FOR KIDS MIDDLE SCHOOLS. HERE'S HOW THEY GET THEM -- AND WHAT WH THEM.

SUPPORTG A GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Too many tim, episos of bullyg are based around stunts’ perceived sexualy or inti, and as rearch prov, our young people are way schools n bat the attacks is to host a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). This is a key perd for lbian, gay, and bisexual stunts: The children one survey reported beg “attracted to another person of the same genr at about age 10. Lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer (LGBTQ) youths are “more than four tim as likely to attempt suici” as heterosexual kids.

A 2014 study found that “LGBTQ stunts are at higher risk for suici, part bee they are more often targeted for bullyg and discrimatn, but heterosexual stunts n also be the target of homophobic bullyg. Create an articulated program where stunts om the high school program n help those the younger you’re terted learng more about tablishg a GSA your school, check out the Jump Start Gui provid by Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network.

Are people who e out as gay their teens sted to face rejectn, bullyg and inty crisis? MARTIN: Now, how did you notice this trend of younger and younger children intifyg themselv as gay? You mentned the piece that you are a gay man.

GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

I read a lot about youth culture and I was talkg to tors and, you know, lears of gay youth groups and they were all sayg the same thg. When realy, if you talk to a gay man, you know, many of them lookg back will say, you know, I noticed my same sex attractn, you know, at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 that ballpark. You know, recent studi are showg that kids are self-intifyg as gay anywhere om 13 to 16.

The other realy is that 's still very difficult for a lot of gay kids to be out middle school. I mean, one of the tertg thgs that we have to look at is this, is that much of the anti-gay bullyg and anti-gay harassment that's gog on middle schools and high school is more about genr non-nformy than really is about beg gay or lbian.

GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"

You say, look, on the one hand, is an eighth-grar who says he's gay jt experimentg? If sexualy is so fluid, should he really box himself wh a gay inty?

But you say that when to kids who say that they are gay, 's almost like we want to talk them out of . Is that beg gay or lbian is still enough of a pariah inty that parents want to take off the table as long as they n, or is jt that parents really feel that all kids are sexualized too early the days, and they don't want their kids at this age thkg about, you know, hookg up?

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

So was really - and a lot of parents, when they heard their kid, their 12-, 13-, 14-year-old say, you know, I'm gay, or I'm bisexual, or I'm lbian, they tomatilly went to oh my god, that means he's havg sex, when realy wasn't about that at all. DENIZET-LEWIS: I thk that there's no doubt that sort of as you have more posive portrayals and, I would say, accurate portrayals of gay and lbian life the media, and kids n go onle and fd all kds of rourc, that there's no doubt that that's gog to have an effect on kids, and that they're gog to possibly e out earlier bee of that. Now, I don't thk that those posive portrayals of gay life is gog to sort of make a kid who's not attracted to the same sex sudnly say, you know, hey, this seems really ol.

You know, I'm gog to try beg gay for a ltle while. What I thk that the more posive portrayals popular culture has done is 's ma a ltle b safer for kids who do feel that they're gay or lbian to be able to e to their parents or school unselor and talk about the issu, which I thk is a real step forward bee for many years, kids who had same-sex attractn or were nfed, they uldn't talk to anyone about .

AM I GAY? QUIZ - FOR MIDDLE-SCHOOL KIDS ?‍❤️‍?‍?

You know, granted I lived San Francis, but none of my iends were gay, or none of the kids my age were gay.

There were still not a lot of posive portrayals of gay and lbian life televisn. So, you know, nsequently I sort of went nial mo, which is what a lot of gay kids have done for many years, and then my early 20s and mid-20s and late 20s, as many gay men do who don't e out until late, we sort of try to relive our gay adolcence that we weren't allowed to live.

And so what's remarkable, now, is I thk we're gog to see, as more and more kids e out younger and are sort of able to have a normal adolcence the sense that, you know, I talked to kids who were havg arguments wh their parents about gog on dat when they're 15 or 16 or 17 or gog to the prom or sort of, you know, havg their normal adolcence, I thk 's gog to create an entirely different kd of gay and lbian adult the next 10, 20, 30 years.

THE LATT PH: "GAY" CLUBS FOR KIDS MIDDLE SCHOOLS. HERE'S HOW THEY GET THEM -- AND WHAT WH THEM.

MARTIN: The unique and not-so-unique challeng of raisg a gay teen. The availabily of valuable rourc and supports middle schools, such as Gay-Straight Allianc and supportive tors, is also highlighted.

Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance. Enuraggly, beg young and openly gay seems to be gettg easier.

Denizet-Lewis wr that when he started workg for the gay men's magaze XY 1998, "we received dozens of letters each week om teenagers the pths of spair. " Three years later, he says, "a new kd of gay adolcent was appearg on the page - proud, rilient, sometim even happy.