Because young people are coming out of the closet at a younger age, parents often deal with a gay or lesbian child in their home. Parents need the support and intervention of therapists in order to guide their children through this often difficult and confusing time and to face their own issues. Parents wrestle with many concerns such as social…

Survey information shows that sexual abuse of children is widespread, being reported by 19% of the females and 9% of the males in the sample. Most sexual victimization took place within the child's family, not with strangers, as "child molesters" have traditionally been stereotyped. While the problem cuts across social and economic lines, it seems…

This paper applies what is currently known about gay fathers to the more specific issues of the non-custodial gay father. Good parenting is not easy for any father, but being a successful gay father is even more difficult. Since the gay father is typically a non-custodial parent, he must deal with his grief about the loss of contact and quality…

A study was conducted to examine how children cope with having a homosexual father so that helping professionals, and particularly nurses, might have a knowledge base upon which to base interventions. Data were obtained from indepth interviews with 19 individuals ranging in age from 14 to 35 who had a homosexual father. Two of the six male…

Noting that children in gay and lesbian families have many of the same needs as children in other families, this paper provides a rationale for the inclusion of gays and lesbians in early childhood anti-bias practices. The paper begins with an overview of who and what are gay and lesbian families, and discusses why they need to be included in…

A study of gay men and their experiences of "coming out" to their parents found that both the mother's and father's reported level of education and religious orthodoxy significantly predicted the relationship change between the mother or the father and the self-disclosing son. This study sought to broaden the available database by sampling both…

Gay youth enter high school with the knowledge that they are different and with the belief that heterosexuality is normal and that homosexuality is not normal. Also, gay youth enter high school with the belief that honesty and integrity are important personal values. Additionally, the gay youth enter high school without family knowledge of their…

This paper presents personal thoughts about addressing a seventh-grade civics class on the gay civil rights movement, a subject generally considered an adult issue. The situation manifests the dilemma as to whether talking to young adolescents about gay issues is in fact recruiting them, or planting dangerous thoughts in their minds. In…

This paper discusses the gendering of self of a young boy who has two males as parents, from the view point of his female psychotherapist. During the 2 years of psychotherapy, the young boy was preoccupied with the need to create a kind of mother. He referred to his female caretaker as "Real Mommy" whom he loved and to his…

A diagnosis of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has both a physical and psychosocial impact that require substantial support. Relating to the families of origin concerning an AIDS diagnosis is a difficult task which sometimes results in rejection and sometimes results in support. In this study subjects (N=32) with AIDS described their…

To determine how college students would rate themselves on a 5-point continuum from homosexual to heterosexual and then to see how those classified individuals perceived themselves and their parents, 1,783 single college students (741 males, 1,032 females), between the ages of 18 and 23, completed two self-report questionnaires. The first assessed…