For LGBTQ Teenagers and Parents: It Gets Better

James Osmanski was seven years old when he first realized he was gay.

He wanted to commit suicide.

Today, he is seventeen, and leads the Gay-Straight Alliance in his high school.

In the NYT.com article about being a gay teenager, this is what is written about being a gay teenager in an American high school:

One bond among many of the members of the Gay-Straight Alliances in Utah high schools is a history of secrecy, depression and even self-loathing in a community where gay children have sometimes been shunned at church or kicked out of their homes.

LGBTQ parents face many of the same kinds of feelings. There are many LGBTQ parents who remain in the closet, dealing with their feelings about being LGBTQ with the use of alcohol or other drugs; secrecy; depression, and self-loathing, on top of guilt. Fear of losing children in custody battles, or emotional relationships with kids, is real.

And it hurts.

Much work to be done in this area for the new year, 2011.

Happy New Year.

Pace!

B