Straight Parent, Gay Kid

Celebrate Humility Day, Jan. 3, 2012, but keep the Humble Pie Recipe

Have you, the straight parent of a gay kid, burst into volcanic eruptions over your gay child’s pronounced sexual identity? Maybe it’s time you ‘fess up that you don’t have all the answers. It’s never too late to apologize – the time to start is now to mend the relationship. Recipe for Humble Pie• Unconditional…

Keep Reading

A New Year’s Resolution That Lasts Beyond Next Year

A New Year’s Resolution That Lasts Beyond Next Year As the holiday season comes to a close, New Year’s resolutions abound as we typically vow to lose that extra five pounds we gained. Many of us go to a Pilates class for our “Core,” only to drop out after two weeks. But how about a…

Keep Reading

Aids Awareness Starts at Home

You know your kids, whether homosexual or heterosexual, are sexually active. Sure, they’ve heard of HIV that causes AIDS, but because they’re teens, they think they are immortal and will not transmit or “catch” the virus. They are too young to remember the scourge of the 80’s that rendered AIDS an automatic death sentence. No…

Keep Reading

“Over the River and Through the Woods, To Straight Relatives We Go”

“Over the River and Through the Woods, To Straight Relatives We Go” All traditional family relatives revisit roles of your childhood:  “the black sheep” who disappoints the family, the perfect sister who visits with her baby, and you, who always felt estranged for being “different.”  Somewhere between the cracked walnuts and the football game, the…

Keep Reading

GLB Servicemen Finally Get Respect

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. While we remember all our servicemen who nobly fight for our country, let us not forget the more than 13,000 members who were discharged since 1993 from the military for being gay, lesbian or bisexual. It has been less than two months since the military’s eighteen year-old policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”(DADT)…

Keep Reading

Making Nice

Your teen has been in school for almost a month now. As a parent, you worry about him being treated as an outsider. Is he being bullied? Does he only hang out with only girls? Are his only friends, like him, forced into a segregated minority of gays and lesbians? What is a parent to…

Keep Reading

What Cuomo Has Wrought Let No Town Clerk Put Asunder

Town Clerk Rose Marie Belforti at work Deirdre DiBiaggio, who owns a Finger Lakes working farm, decided she wanted to get married to her lover of ten years, a filmmaker. So, she went to the Town Clerk’s office in nearby Ledyard, New York, to apply for a marriage license. The Town Clerk, Rose Marie Belforti,…

Keep Reading
Caspian

Caspian Julius, Welcome!

The announcement read: “Baby and parents are doing well, baby has learned to cry already. No gifts please, just nice thoughts for Caspian, humankind, the planet, and the universe.”   Caspian Julius was born on September 30, 2011. I don’t know if he was produced by artificial insemination or adoption. Nor does the public. What…

Keep Reading
DADT

Ding, Dong! The Wicked DADT Is Dead!

The Military Thought You Had To Be Straight to Shoot Straight Gays in the military have been fighting an uphill battle since 1982 when The Department of Defense officially put in writing that “homosexuality was incompatible with military service.” Between 1993 with the Clinton era compromise “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the 2011 repeal…

Keep Reading

Parental Homework for Anti-Bullying Defenses

On my last post, I gave readers tips and links for parents to practice anti-bullying defenses at home with their teen. Now, I am giving you additional suggestions from Donna A. Henderson, Professor at Wake Forest’s Counseling Department: To find out what’s going on at school, and what types of situations your child may face,…

Keep Reading