Advice to parents on raising a happy and healthy LGBTQ child

When many LGBTQ people look back on their childhood, we remember a mixture of confusingly feeling different; being harassed for our sexual identities; and realizing how important our parents, teachers and other authority figures were in either helping us through those years — or making our lives worse. 

Experts say research shows that how parents respond can be fundamental to their children’s mental health and well-being, now and in the future. “Family matters most,” says Joe Kort, a clinical psychotherapist and author of “LGBTQ Clients in Therapy.” “If you’re a high rejecting family, you’re going to put that child in harm’s way. Suicidality will increase the more rejecting the family is.”