Monday, March 26, 2007

Books for parents of gay teens

I'm feeling cranky.

I recently looked though the library of our local PFLAG chapter, an easy thing to do as it is in my house. It's a bit dated. We really need to get some new books. We could use some books dealing with the transgendered experience, but we also need some books for parents of GLBTQ children and youth.

It was so frustrating to me 7 years ago when I first become the parent of a gay teen. I looked for books, but everything that was address to parents was written in a time when it seemed that everyone waited until they were adults to come out. Practically all the information I could find on gay teens focused on the problems they had as a result of unsupportive families. There was precious little that was helpful to trying to be a supportive parent in action. In theory, sure. Lots on that. But what did it mean to parent an out gay 15 year-old?

I am still not finding much out there.

Go any recommendations?

4 comments:

  1. I have actually met some gay teens in COLAGE. I wonder if they might be able to direct you to some resources.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's some:

    Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey

    Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together

    Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter

    My Child Is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News

    Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms With the Suicide of Her Gay Son

    Now That You Know: A Parents' Guide to Understanding Their Gay and Lesbian Children,


    Fortunate Families: Catholic families with lesbian daughters and gay sons


    Different Daughters 3 Ed: A Book by Mothers of Lesbians

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is also a reasonable amount of material written about gay/straight alliances and queer youth in the academic literature. Enter "gay-straight alliance" onto scholar.google.com for several publications, some of which might be good for a general audience...

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  4. Too dated?
    - Heron, Ann, ed. One Teenager in Ten. Alyson Publications, Inc., 1983.

    Young adult novels:
    - Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden (a classic, sort of depressing and dated)

    I also found pinkbooks.com:
    "Pinkbooks is a specialist site for books and resources about gay and lesbian teenagers and young people. Gay books and lesbian books can be hard for gay teens to find- by providing links and information, Pinkbooks aims to make it easier for gay and lesbian youth to see their lives reflected in the literature they read."

    Who knows?

    ReplyDelete

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