“I hoped that if I ignored the signs, it would just go away,” said another. “I had absolutely no problem with other kids being gay, just not my own child,” one mother of a gay teen told me.
In the following weeks I’d learn, from parents of gay children across the country, that her reaction wasn’t unusual. It surprised me that this liberal-with-a-capital-L woman would display such discomfort at the topic. “I’m not sure I’d want to read the article,” she said quickly. I told her I was working on an article about parents of teens who might be gay. But if the answer is yes, there’s a lot of support to help you and your child along the journey.Ī few weeks before writing this, I bumped into an acquaintance, a middle-aged woman with two teenage sons.