Straight Parent, Gay Kid
Coming Out: It’s Not Your Story!
It’s not a good idea to out your kids. Let them be the messengers. Their stories are highly personal and should be revealed in their own time when they are comfortable.Jeff Ingold at Stonewall explains that publicly outing someone “robs that person of the chance to define who they are, in their own terms and…
Teacher Appreciate Week May 7-11
Teacher Appreciation Week May 7-11 GLSEN.ORG/thankateacher) For LGBT youth, school can be an ordeal. They can be singled out, bullied, feel unsafe in an environment that’s supposed to be free of fear. In fact, they may elect to miss school as much as a day per month because they are being harassed. Compared to their…
Are Your LGBT Kids Mentally Healthy?
What Parents Can Do To Ensure They Are May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Do you realize that research shows that LGBT individuals are three times more likely to experience a mental health condition? No wonder as they face health disparities linked to societal stigma,…
“But We Only Did It Once”
I remember seeing this striking headline for a Planned Parenthood ad at New York’s One Club for Art & Copy in 1979. The print advertisement won a Gold Award. Fast forward to 2018. Kids are having sex younger and some self-identify as LGBT before they even get to high school. Yet their sexual practices seem…
Transgender Pain Is Visible on Trans Day of Visibility 2018
The career of Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman to win election to Viriginia’s House of Delegates or the glamorous lives of Laverne Cox or Caitlyn Jenner are not typical of most transgenders. They may be highly visible, but most transsexuals keep lower profiles. Why? They are discriminated against by society and families…
John Oliver’s Marlon Bundo Is More Than A Parody
Jill Twiss’s parody of Vice President’s rabbit Marlon Bundo hippity-hopped to No. 1 on Amazon a day before the release of Pence’s daughter Charlotte’s children’s book about their real family pet entitled Day in the Life of Vice-President. So popular, Twiss’s book sold out in a day and 400,000 copies have been ordered for the…
Who’s In Charge When A Child Comes Out?
When a child comes out, the family dynamic changes. It’s a role reversal. The child is perceived as being “in charge.” But you play a vital role. Don’t “roll over and play dead.” Your response has real impact. A parent may feel any one or all of these reactions such as denial, shock, anger, confusion….
What To Expect From PFLAG
Parents feel better when they realize that they are not alone and that there are parents like them who are experiencing similar thoughts, feelings and reactions to having an LGBTQ child. That’s the premise of a nationwide organization called PFLAG ( Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians & Gays, and now Transgender and Questioning)….
Slouching Toward Equality In The Workplace
Gay workers in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont will sleep better tonight knowing that yesterday a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled that gay employees are allowed to sue their employers over sexual orientation. The ruling does not apply nationwide and could be headed to the Supreme Court where possibly it could be reversed because…
Mike Pence Is On Thin Ice with Rippon
Of the fifteen LGBTQ athletes competing in the Winter Olympics, Gus Kenworthy the American freestyle skier and Adam Rippon, the American figure skater have attracted the most attention for their stances against Vice -President Mike Pence’s past voting records on LGBT rights. Pence led the U.S. delegation at the opening of The Winter Olympics at…