OUR CHILDREN: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR FAMILIES OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, GENDER-EXPANSIVE AND QUEER YOUTH AND ADULTS If you or a loved one needs immediate assistance, please turn to the inside back cover for a list of crisis helplines, contact us at [email protected], visit our website at pflag.org, or call (202) 467-8180 to find the PFLAG chapter nearest you. ABOUT PFLAG Founded in 1972 with the simple act of a mother publicly supporting her gay son, PFLAG is the extended family of the LGBTQ community. Made up of families and allies united with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ), PFLAG is committed to advancing equality through its mission of support, education, and advocacy. PFLAG has more than 400 chapters and 200,000 members and supporters crossing multiple generations of American families in major urban centers, small cities, and rural areas in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This vast grassroots network is cultivated, resourced, and supported by the PFLAG National office (located in Washington, DC), the National Board of Directors, the Regional Directors Council, and our many advisory councils and boards. PFLAG is a nonprofit organization not affiliated with any political or religious institution. Our Vision. PFLAG envisions a world where diversity is celebrated and all people are respected, valued, and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Our Mission. By meeting people where they are and collaborating with others, PFLAG realizes its vision through: • Support for families, allies and people who are LGBTQ • Education for ourselves and others about the unique issues and challenges facing people who are LGBTQ • Advocacy in our communities to change attitudes and create policies and laws that achieve full equality for people who are LGBTQ PFLAG.ORG Our Children 1 About this publication: This guide focuses on providing support for parents, caregivers, families and friends of people who are LGBTQ, with an emphasis on sexual orientation and gender expression. For detailed information specific to gender identity and people who are transgender, please visit pflag.org/ourtranslovedones to download a free copy of Our Trans Loved Ones: Questions and Answers for Parents, Families, and Friends of People Who Are Transgender and Gender Expansive. Our experiences, expertise, knowledge, and resources are always evolving and, therefore, we encourage you to visit our website (pflag.org), as well as check with medical, behavioral health, social services, and other professional providers, or local support groups—including PFLAG chapters—for the most up-to-date information on LGBTQ experiences. Our Children: Questions and Answers for Families of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender-Expansive and Queer Youth and Adults is copyrighted. For reprint permission, please contact the PFLAG National office, [email protected], (202) 467-8180. To order this publication, receive a complete listing of PFLAG publications, or obtain information about a PFLAG chapter in your area, visit our website at pflag.org. Written By: Copy Editor: Kathy Godwin Liz Owen Joellen Shiffman Kay Holladay Dawn Holt Jody Huckaby Edited By: Content Review Elizabeth Kohm Team: Liz Owen Jean-Marie Navetta Elizabeth Kohm Conal Charles Elijah Perry Jamie Curtis Acknowledgments: Thank you to the Williams Institute, williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/, for doing the important work of measuring progress and challenges in the LGBTQ community. And thank you to Dr. Caitlyn Ryan and the researchers at the Family Acceptance Project, familyproject.sfsu.edu, for quantifying what family acceptance looks like. Most of all, thank you to the families and allies who have shown us all how to react and respond with love for over 40 years. All Rights Reserved, ©2016 PFLAG National, Inc. 2 Our Children PFLAG.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS About PFLAG ...............................................1 About this publication .......................................2 We’re Glad You Found PFLAG! ................................4 Frequently Asked Questions ..................................9 Next Steps .................................................15 Expert Opinions ............................................17 First-Person Stories .........................................22 PFLAG National Glossary of Terms ...........................26 PFLAG.ORG Our Children 3 WE’RE GLAD YOU FOUND PFLAG! You’re likely reading this publication because your child (or a loved one—we’ll use both terms throughout, interchangeably) has come out to you, that is, they’ve shared with you that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ). Some parents and caregivers are surprised to learn this information from their child; others are both surprised and ill-prepared to hear about it from a friend, school counselor, neighbor, or online social networking site. And still others may already have an inkling that their child might be LGBTQ but aren’t sure when, how, or if they should address it. We believe we know our children Remember, this is not an end to better than anyone, so when a child your dreams for your child or or a loved one comes out (reveals loved one, nor is it the end of your themselves to be LGBTQ) and we relationship. On the contrary, hadn’t a clue—or we knew but either your relationship can become denied it to ourselves or patiently even stronger, because you know waited for them to share the more about them now than you information in their own time—it did before. In fact, it is a likely sign can make us feel like we didn’t know that your child trusts you: If they them as well as we thought are telling you, they are making a we did…or at all. choice to share this most personal information about themselves. Everyone has a vision or dream for their child’s future, born of Reactions vary, from “Now that many things including personal I know, what can I do to support experiences, family history, cultural my child?” to “How will I ever or societal expectations, and more. handle this?” For some people, When presented with your child’s it’s a combination of these two disclosure or coming out, it may be reactions…and more. There is no an adjustment to understand and doubt that people have different and realize that this future might now potentially complex responses and differ from that vision or dream. feelings to a loved one coming out, 4 Our Children PFLAG.ORG but this is absolutely normal, given identified LGB people in the that you are receiving news that the U.S., and approximately 1.4 path you and your loved one are million adults who identify as now on is potentially different and transgender. Other research unknown from one you expected or shows that eight in ten people for which you had prepared. in the U.S. personally know someone who is LGB, and one Whatever your reaction, both in three people know someone PFLAG National and our network who is transgender. In other of PFLAG chapters across the words, although it may not country are here to provide the appear so, there are LGBTQ information you need to understand people everywhere, and there your reaction to the news and your are supportive families and allies child’s sexual orientation and/or everywhere, too. You are not gender identity, and to respond in alone in this process. a way that is supportive and loving. Your reaction is valid. Our members—parents, caregivers, • family members, allies, and LGBTQ There is no one way to react to people themselves—reside in learning that your child or a communities in every state across loved one is LGBTQ. Some feel the country, and represent a wide happy that their child opened array of political, religious, and up to them, others feel relief cultural perspectives. Simply put: that they know more about We either have been, or are, exactly their child and can help them where you are now. navigate the world with this information to guide them, Before we delve more deeply into the while others feel joy that their issues, here are a few things to keep child is confident in their in mind: self-awareness. Others may have more difficult or complex • You’re not alone. Every emotions, feeling fear for their day, for more than 40 years, loved one’s safety, guilt thinking people have turned to PFLAG they may have somehow caused looking for support, resources, their loved one to be LGBTQ, and answers to their questions. sadness that they did not There are more than 400 know without being told, or PFLAG chapters across the anger that their child did not country full of people just tell them sooner. These are like you. According to the all normal feelings…and you Williams Institute, an LGBTQ may experience some or all research think tank, there are of them simultaneously! more than eight million self- PFLAG.ORG Our Children 5 • You’re on a journey. The have information and resources path has not only been walked at your fingertips—like those by others before you, there are offered at pflag.org—right others traveling the same road, when you need them. This is right now, having a similar especially true if your emotions experience in their own family. are less positive, as you’ll need Like every journey, this one a safe place to work through will have its twists and turns, those feelings. PFLAG meetings but know that many families are a great and confidential way before you have taken the to find people who have gone same path. Addressing your through similar experiences, reaction, responding to your and those in attendance and child, learning about LGBTQ leading the meetings can point issues, sharing this information you towards crucial resources with your family and friends, such as books to read, all of these things take time.