Your teenager has just come out and identified as gay. What do you do? The first thing, experts say, is to put yourself in their shoes and understand that he or she may have fears about not being accepted for who they are.
“For your child, this is the first time your child is truly seen,” Michael Anthony-Nalepa, a licensed psychotherapist with a specialized degree in LGBT affirmative psychotherapy tells Parentology. “If you can remember the intensity of the moment you held your child for the first time, it’s kind of the same thing in reverse for them. It’s the moment they’re revealing their true selves to their parents.”
It needs to be handled with care — but it doesn’t need to be treated like a tragedy. “You did nothing wrong,” stresses Nalepa. “Scientists have proven that there is a huge genetic component to sexual orientation and the American Psychological Association affirms that there is nothing pathological or maladaptive about same-sex attraction. Give yourself that space.”
“Often parents call me and leave this rushed anxious message on my voicemail: ‘My child has come out! What do I do’?” recalls Nalepa. “When I call them back, I always make a point to say, ‘Congratulations!’ And more often than not, they become so emotional hearing that, they start to cry.”
Nalepa thinks this is mainly because parents have been holding the news in a negative way. Instead, he encourages them to look at it as an evolution. “Yes, there are safety concerns. There is mourning for what you thought their life would look like. There is a lot being discussed. But try to see it as a positive development — a graduation to becoming who they really are.”
If you’re wondering what to do when your child comes out, here a few tips.
FIRST UP: How your reaction matters.