A week or so ago, I posted about an article that profiled several teen children of LGBT parents. For my column at 365gay.com this week, I wrote about how we need to position LGBT rights as being in the best interests of the children, rather than let the ultra-conservatives control the “think of the children” argument.
Now comes a great short video featuring 12-year-old Noel and Dakota, the children of lesbian mom Gina McNally-Malanga, talking about the way homophobia impacts them. They say it with much more impact than I ever could.
I also find it notable that they bring up the subject of “coming out” as the child of an LGBT parent, regardless of one’s own sexual orientation. That’s a process that doesn’t get nearly as much discussion as it should, IMHO. Noel also talks about the special understanding between her and a lesbian girl at school; again, I think that’s a bond that is not often recognized.
Thanks to Noel and Dakota for their honesty and their willingness to share their feelings with us.
As always, you can browse the Mombian YouTube channel for more positive videos by, for, and about LGBT families.
As a mental health professional and bisexual woman, the effect of prejudice on children is something I’m especially aware of.
The story has always been “we can’t talk about homosexuality in schools because it will give children the ‘wrong idea'”.
It’s no wonder that children grow up confused, self-loathing, bullied and stressed. And it’s no wonder the suicide rate amongst these children is so high.
We know that much of a child’s self-esteem is linked to the esteem given to his/her parents, and when children of gays see their parents routinely mistreated, disrespected, villified and attacked, it deeply damages their own psyche.
Oh for a world of kindness.