Top questions parents ask themselves when their kids come out revealed
An LGBT helpline recently revealed the main concerns parents have when their kids come out to them.
The Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association is the oldest and the largest LGBT organisation in Taiwan.
The group serves more than 50,000 LGBT as well as straight people each year, as well as the parents of those who have recently come out.
Last weekend, the organisation revealed what parents are most concerned about after they after they discover their child is LGBT.
Here are the top 5 questions parents often ask:
Can my kid turn straight?
Will my kid get infected with HIV?
What will happen in the future when my kid gets old?
What did I do wrong?
How am I supposed to tell my parents? How would the relatives see me?
The organisation claims that many of these worries come from pressures felt by the older generation, as they try to keep up with societal norms.
Therefore it is not unusual that parents wonder if ‘turning straight’ is an option the moment their kid comes out to them.
“Actually many parents have, in their heart, prepared themselves to give full acceptance of their kid,” the organisation’s website reads.
“However, some may still carry that tiny bit of hope that maybe their kid can change and turn straight.
“This only impedes the family from becoming closer and more open to one another.”
The hotline encourages these “closet parents” who are facing internal struggles to seek help through counselling, support groups, forums, talks and etc.
A four-year-old boy with a doll who put a judgemental adult in their place recently inspired parents to share their kids’ fabulous taste in clothes and toys.
A boy went shopping with his mother to pick out a new toy – when a judgemental shop customer interrupted, he put her right in her place.
