Written in an accessible Q&A format, here, finally, is the go-to resource for parents hoping to understand and communicate with their gay child. Through their LGBTQ-oriented site, the authors are uniquely experienced to answer parents' many questions and share insight and guidance on both emotional and practical topics. Filled with real-life experiences from gay kids and parents, this is the book gay kids want their parents to read.

There are few places an LGBTQ teen can turn for help – searching the internet at home leaves a potentially discoverable trail, teachers may condemn youth who seek their help, and certainly, in many cases, a teen’s parents are not an option. While there have been advancements in acceptance of the LGBTQ population, there is still a firm stronghold on discrimination and teens still face the fear of potential alienation. This leaves one of the only safe places for a teen to find information and, and indeed, find themselves in the context of the world – at the library. Serving LGBTQ Teens offers the librarian a practical guide to library service to LGBTQ teens – from collection development, understanding terminology, dealing with censorship issues, programming and outreach, readers’ advisory, and even to creating welcoming displays, librarians will find the tools they need to offer exceptional services for LGBTQ teens.

The Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies surveys the field in some 470 entries on individuals (Adrienne Rich); arts and cultural studies (Dance); ethics, religion, and philosophical issues (Monastic Traditions); historical figures, periods, and ideas (Germany between the World Wars); language, literature, and communication (British Drama); law and politics (Child Custody); medicine and biological sciences (Health and Illness); and psychology, social sciences, and education (Kinsey Report).

From running a household to handling a parent-teacher conference, and with an extensive resource section at the back, On Being a Gay Parent will answer the questions you haven't even thought to ask.

Understanding Gay and Lesbian Youth assists the classroom teacher, school counselor, and administrator in relating to gay and lesbian youth and creating accepting and supportive learning climates. David Campos begins with a discussion of the current state of affairs regarding gay and lesbian youth in schools, including a discourse on the developmental milestones, and provides practical strategies for working effectively with these students. The text, concise, yet comprehensive, features: _

This book reports the findings of The Gay and Lesbian Family Study, the largest national assessment of gay and lesbian headed families. It describes exactly what takes place within gay and lesbian headed families across the country.

This vital addition to Springer’s ‘Educating the Young Child’ series addresses gaps in the literature on father involvement in the lives of young children, a topic with a fast-rising profile in today’s world of female breadwinners and single-parent households. While the significant body of theoretical understanding and empirical data accumulated in recent decades has done much to characterize the fluidity of evolving notions of fatherhood, the impact of this understanding on policy and legal frameworks has been uneven at an international level. In a field where groups of fathers were until recently marginalized in research, this book adopts a refreshingly inclusive attitude, aiming to motivate researchers to capture the nuanced practices of fathers in minority groups such as those who are homeless, gay, imprisoned, raising a disabled child, or from ethnically distinct backgrounds, including Mexican- and African-American and indigenous fathers. The volume includes chapters highlighting the unique challenges and possibilities of father involvement in their children’s early years of development. Contributing authors have integrated theories, research, policies, and programs on father involvement so as to attract readers with diverse interest and expertise, and material from selected countries in Asia, Australia, and Africa, as well as North America, evinces the international scope of their analysis. Their often interdisciplinary analyses draw, too, on historical and cultural legacies, even as they project a vision of the future in which fathers’ involvement in their young children’s lives develops alongside the changing political, economic and educational landscapes around the world.

This study is based upon original research carried out with lesbian, gay and queer parents and explores how genealogy, kinship, family, everyday life, gender, race, state welfare and intimacy are theorized and lived out, drawing upon interactionist, feminist, discursive and queer sociologies.

Ruby Swanson’s life changed when her sixteen-year-old son walked to her office, closed the door, and with his hand still on the doorknob said, “I’m gay.” Despite her initial reaction of shock, fear, and denial, Ruby became a public advocate for equality and acceptance of the LGBT community. A Family Outing is the story of Ruby’s experiences. She addresses the deeply homophobic time in which baby boomers grew up, the emergence of the gay rights movement, and how the AIDS epidemic transformed the LGBT landscape. A Family Outing is a memoir about discovering gay great-uncles and learning about their lives. It is about operating spotlights at a drag queen show, and about marching in Pride Parades. It is about the discrimination that gay people continue to face today and what emerges from the direct, clear-eyed prose. Finally, it is the picture of a woman who endured taunts from religious fundamentalists and political protestors to become an LGBT advocate.

Packed to the hilt with living narratives, scholarly research, and problem-solution scenarios, Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth examines the unique challenges faced by today’s homosexual young adults. You’ll learn what modern-day queer kids do to cope, survive, and find understanding in a world riddled with homophobic intolerance. Queer Kids is a lens of clarity that will help the average straight adult--and maybe even the average gay adult--see things from a kid’s point of view. Its detail-oriented, well-wrought chapters will provide you with literally hundreds of stories of young people who are trying to define themselves sexually and emotionally in a society of criss-crossing judgment, stereotyping, anger, and expectation. Aimed at three target groups--counselors, parents, and youth--this book introduces you to a variety of interesting kids, offers you a look at the process of coming out, and helps you grasp the experience of queer identification. Specifically, you’ll read about: queer kids and their families and peers the medical/health care profession’s impact on queer kids the teachers and counselors of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth how to alleviate harrassment, abuse, withdrawal, and loneliness the effects of familial denial, prejudiced counselors, and standoffish gay adults Being a kid is tough--but being a queer kid can be even tougher. Fortunately, Queer Kids is available for students, ministers, teachers, youth- and health-care workers, and especially the friends and families of teens who are working through the personal turbulence that too often accompanies sexual and emotional definition. Guided by its upfront approach and practical resource list of written, computer, and telephone aids, you’ll see that a solution is not as distant as you think. Read it, and relearn what it means to be a kid again.