Best way to support youth

[Ruffie]

As I mentioned previously I have a gay son, but I also deal with many kids who question their sexuality in my job running a youth centre. Many of these kids experience tremendous pressure from families, friends and their spiritual organizations to "get those ideas out of their heads. Of course I listen and hold them while they cry and if I think they are doing something more than experimenting I try to direct them to local support people who are in the community.
I wonder if there is anything that when you were struggling as a teen/young adult that you would have needed to make the process a little easier for you?

[butch]

As I mentioned previously I have a gay son, but I also deal with many kids who question their sexuality in my job running a youth centre. Many of these kids experience tremendous pressure from families, friends and their spiritual organizations to "get those ideas out of their heads. Of course I listen and hold them while they cry and if I think they are doing something more than experimenting I try to direct them to local support people who are in the community.
I wonder if there is anything that when you were struggling as a teen/young adult that you would have needed to make the process a little easier for you?

The biggest thing that would have helped me would have been to know that it was OK not to be like everyone else. If I had known that all women don't have to look or act a certain way to be considered women, or that all lesbians had to find X sexy in order to be a 'true' lesbian, or that fat can be very beautiful no matter what I see on the TV screen telling me otherwise, then that would have been a tremendous help.

As youth, most of us, queer or not, want to fit in more than anything, but we also want to be 'individuals.' I think exposure to people who don't neatly fit all the narrow boxes we assign people due to gender, race, size, sexuality, etc, is a great thing for all teens to see, struggling or not.

[sowhat]

My parents are more open minded than they let on. I didn't know that until I came out to them at 18. Had I known that, I would've told them about my GID a whole lot sooner.

To the parents: Start a conversation about this stuff with your kids. If they know you are ok with them whether or not they are <insert applicable word here>, it will put them more at ease with themselves and with you.

Most things in life are not concrete or absolute. Gender, Sexual Orientation and preferences are more a spectrum than anything. Life is about finding that spot that works for you.

I hope that brain spewing above made some sense.