Sources of information for adolescent who has come out to parent

[sharpchick]

I'm a member of another message board where there is a post from the mother of a 12 year old girl who has told Mom she is a lesbian.

Apparently, Mom has felt for quite some time that this was the case, and is very supportive of her daughter, wanting to be able to provide her with information and guidance as the young lady explores her now open feelings. Some of the people who have responded to this mother have suggested that there is no way a 12 year old can be truly aware of her sexual orientation at this young age. I find that pretty hypocritical, since those folks are parents and did not question their children's straight sexual orientation when they were pre-teens and teens, but simply rolled their eyes as they braced for their son or daughter to become boy or girl "crazy."

I gave the mom a link to PFLAG, and other posters have been incredibly supportive of her - one dad has related the "coming out" moment of one of his twin daughters when she was 14, and said she had simply verified to him what he already suspected.

Any other resources available for this mom and daughter? They live in the northeast US.

 

[glamorilla]

i think its something you always know no matter what your age.

it's nice to learn there are supportive parents out there. there are a lot of challenges one has to face in coming out so young. usually my advice is to be quiet about it untill you're in a position to be able to take care of yourself in a worst case scenario.

i suggest contacting the glbt center in new york citys greenwich village for some help they have a lot of youth oriented out reach programs and if anything they can probably direct you (or her) someplace thats closer to home.

 

[Little Bird]

She may want to have more information, but she can be asured that in being suportive of it, she's already doing more than anything else combined can do...

 

[CuriousNiceGuy]

i think its something you always know no matter what your age.

I don't think so..you have to have some kind of sexual education to understand that. Maybe you always ARE deep inside, but you only KNOW when you start noticing your difference from other people. To me it happened at my 17. Before that I never thought about men in another way.
Now men, women it doesn't really matter They're both great in their own ways

 

[revolution724]

i think its something you always know no matter what your age.

I don't agree with this, either, not for all people. It doesn't reflect my experiences. Some people DO always know, and some don't, because of personal circumstances, personality, culture, whatever.

Anyway, though, that's not the point of the thread - this particular girl probably DOES know, and more power to her. I'd wonder if there are gay-straight alliances at her school or in her community, maybe. For example, there's a group in Boston known as BAGLY - Boston Alliance of Gay Lesbian Bisexual & Transgender Youth - which provides support services for queer youth - and another called Boston GLASS, which operates a drop-in center and support groups. There might be similar groups in this family's community. PFLAG would probably have a good directory, though, so I hope they do contact them.

 

[sharpchick]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll pass all of them along and I'm sure they will be put to good use.