Parents should support LGBT teens, gay adult writes

By Staff Writer

The term "bullying" often refers to someone who habitually intimidates weaker people. Although it is usually used to describe how a student treats his or her peer, it can also be used for parents, according to Darren Rosenblum, writer for the Huffington Post.

Before Rosenblum came out in the early 1980s at age 13, he had many thoughts of suicide. He told the media outlet that he called a hotline and spoke to social workers about the process of coming out before telling his parents, who were supportive. However, one-quarter of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) teens who come out to their parents are thrown out of the house, according to the news source. One-third of homeless youth are LGBT.

In Gay and Lesbian Youth of New York, a youth-run group that met at the then-brand-new Lesbian and Gay Community Center, the other kids mostly were not out to their parents, Rosenblum wrote. Several kids, thrown out of their homes, were sleeping in stairwells at the Center.

He added that LGBT should be told that "it gets better," and that parents should try to "make it better."

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that nearly one-tenth of sexually active high school students in New York City say they have had at least one same-sex partner.