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#parents of queer kids
drmajalis · 11 months
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Too good to stay on twitter
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laughingcatwrites · 5 months
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As a reminder that good exists out there, a coworker recently confessed to me that he found out his child is questioning their identity (kid's gender redacted for this post). The kid is keeping it from him, so he can't say anything to them or show that he knows, but he's doing his best to get mentally prepared and educated so that he'll be ready whenever his kid does feel comfortable enough come to him.
For context, this guy is a big, bulky middle aged dude who loves sports and typical outdoor "manly" activities. As his coworker and friend, I know he's a kind and sweet teddy bear of a person, but his kid probably views him as a stern, authoritarian figure, the way most teenagers view their parents. His family lives in a conservative area, so I'm sure between that, their dad's looks and interests, and the fact that their dad is a Figure of Authority, the kid is worried that they won't be accepted.
But you know what? When he found out about his kid, the first thing he did was reach out to his closest queer friend and ask for resources for parents of questioning children. His biggest fears are that his kid will be bullied or discriminated against and won't feel comfortable enough to be themself. His second action was to find himself a mentor in another parent who went the same situation (kid coming out in a conservative town). The other person is preparing him for some of the struggles his kid may face and the fights he may need to take on as a parent to make sure his kid is safe and treated well.
Something I want to emphasize for people focused on language as the primary method of allyship is that when we spoke, he used some outdated terms and thoughts about gender and sexuality. That does not make him bad. These were the terms and thinking used about questioning teenagers when he was growing up and he never needed to learn more current ones. But now that he does have that need, he's throwing himself in head first because that's his kid and he's darn well going to make sure that his kid feels welcomed and has a safe place to be themselves even if they never come out to him.
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queerism1969 · 1 month
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genderqueerpositivity · 7 months
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The latest dispute to reach a federal appeals court arose when parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri sued a range of government entities and officials affiliated with the Ludlow, Massachusetts public schools. The lawsuit alleges that during the 2020-2021 school year, their child approached a teacher about feelings of depression, low self-esteem and possible attraction to the same gender. The teacher spoke with the child’s mother, who responded that she was getting the child professional help and asked school staff not to have private conversations with the child.
The child, who was 11 at the time, then sent an email to school personnel self-identifying as genderqueer and announcing a new name and list of preferred pronouns. The school counselor responded with an email to staff stating that, consistent with a policy sanctioned by the Ludlow School Committee, they should not use the new preferred name and pronouns when communicating with the parents. Around the same time, the child’s sibling, who was then 12 years old, also began using a different name. The school did not tell the parents.
The parents sued, alleging that the defendants violated three different rights derived from the 14th Amendment: (1) their fundamental parental rights to direct the education and upbringing of their children, (2) their fundamental right to direct medical and mental health decision-making for their children, and (3) their fundamental right to “familial privacy” and “family integrity.”
None of these rights are expressly identified in the Constitution. All of them stem from the same aspect of the 14th Amendment that produced the original decision in Roe v. Wade — “substantive” due process. The Supreme Court, of course, has now overturned that decision, leaving open the question of which constitutional rights stemming from the 14th Amendment will now prevail and which won’t.
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liyazaki · 7 months
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it's just my allergies I SWEAR 😭
HIDDEN AGENDA | EPISODE 11
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burn-butch-burn · 9 months
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Support group for the kids who grew up being told they were wrong in every argument just to grow up and find out the parent who made them think that about themselves was/is actually just an extremely insecure narcissist.
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uncanny-tranny · 9 months
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When people talk about unsupportive parents of queer kids (whether or not they're a minor), there's sometimes this air of "would you really rather have a dead child than a queer one? There's no way you'd rather want that..."
But that's what people miss, I think. To a queerphobic parent, a queer child is a punishment. Anybody who supports their queer kid isn't punishing them, and that is just as bad. If a queer child isn't "good enough" to attone, the queerphobic parent believes, then they might as well weed them out entirely. That's why queerphobic parents might go so far as to claim to have one less child - because they are still in exhile, they are still punished. They may as well not exist entirely.
We must stop pretending that all parents have this innate feeling of wanting to protect their children no matter, and if a parent doesn't feel the need to protect and defend their child/ren, that is the fault of everybody else.
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matiasthecamilion · 27 days
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For a long time I didn't understand why I was so obsessed with lotr, especially the relationship between Sam n Frodo, as the years have gone by I can only come to the conclusion that as a 14 year old queer kiddo who just It had been discovered a few months ago and that continued to scared a lot even feeling uncomfortable for what them little self was, I came to feel safe, secure and understood on levels that I had never felt before.
It wasn't just that they acted gay or said sweet things to each other, it was that I saw myself in them, I could finally see that people like me have always existed, that they have always loved each other. Seeing how they cared for each other and expressed their love made me think I was not alone.
I wasn't the only one to feel this way because they loved each other too. Bc I grew up in a conservative family I thought I wasn't worthy of love, but seeing them made me realize that that kind of "love" I felt has always been there.
Sam n Frodo are not just a ship for me, they are an important part of my path to self-acceptance. Thanks to them I learned that I was not wrong.
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(a cute drawing made my dearest friend Fergii that is part of a reencarnation au we have on wattpad)
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mindibindi · 11 months
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No Place like Home...? 🌈
So what...Ted Lasso just goldfishes his way into forgetting about his big diverse found family so that he can return to humble, hometown heteronormativity? Look, I get that "be a goldfish" is a cute moment from s1 and an idea that has some (limited) practical value. But isn't it also emblematic of Ted's initial overly positive attitude which ultimately just served to ignore difficult emotions, interactions or situations? This is his big advice to his son and his parting words to his audience? Wasn't the whole point of his time in Richmond and his return to his son to establish and encourage an alternative kind of masculinity? One that expresses, not represses? One that deals with difficulty maturely rather than just avoids it? One that actively and ethically chooses rather than simply doing what's always been done?
Honestly? There was plenty of stuff about the finale that I really liked. Colin's kiss was the best bit. That godawful wedding moment the worst, for many reasons. But I'm unsure how to even read Ted's ending, and not in a oh-gosh-it's-so-rich-and-ambiguous way but in a whaaaa....???-this-is-not-consistent-storytelling-this-is-missing-the-mark-for-me kinda way. When Ted looks at the camera, are we supposed to feel happy for him? Happy that he is happy? Is it a happy ending? Is he happy?? He doesn't look happy. Or sad. Or content. Or much of anything really. He just looks kind of vacant. Which is how he looked most of the episode. The final game (which wasn't even the final game and I suppose they justified not showing it for "creative" reasons, okay, sure, whatever) was the only time he looked engaged, and even then it wasn't fully. Most of the time, he did look like a gaping goldfish with a 6-second memory.
When it was time to say goodbye to everyone, there was no sense of nostalgia for the past 3 years and no sense of those relationships continuing. There were no promises or assurances of visits or skypes or calls. Phones, planes and the internet suddenly ceased to exist (when they'd served him and Henry quite well up until then). While the corniest song choice ever played (yes! we get it! the sacred struggle of fatherhood! GAAAHH), one family was sacrificed for another because both couldn't possibly co-exist. Two things at once makes brain hurty. After all the good work they did around dismantling traditional models of masculinity, in the end they reinforced a version of masculinity which centred supposedly noble self-sacrifice rather than ethical self-actualisation, regression over growth and singularity over plurality.
Sure, it bookends the series poignantly, if predictably. And truth is, Ted leaving Henry was baked into the premise of the show from ep 1. It's actually a pretty big emotional leap to take with a character but, as the audience, we made that leap because we understood that this extraordinary move away from his son was necessary for adventure, narrative and growth to occur. In real life, this move would've been highly questionable (esp for a female parent). But we are in a fictional reality here so we are bound as well as freed by the rules of genre, character and narrative. Without Ted leaving Henry, there is no story. We also understand that Ted's adventures will ultimately benefit Henry, who gets a dad who is fully engaged, professionally challenged and supported by a community of like-minded peeps who think he's super cool. By sending Ted back (or at least sending him back in this way), it implies that there is no more story to tell, Ted's story is over, his growth is done. It robs him of further growth and adventure, robs his son of a happy and fulfilled dad and robs the audience of imagining future failures and glories all shared by an indefatigable Richmond FC.
The whole point of this show was to show Ted building a new life, home and family after the disintegration of his marriage. This marriage did not provide the space or opportunity for him to heal childhood wounds or expand as a man. He was a small man, living a small, limited, conventional life. Which would be okay, if he wasn't suffocating in the process. He needed to find a bigger pond. It's possible that Ted's panic attacks were not a sign that Richmond was unhealthy or overwhelming for him. It's possible that there, he could breathe for the first time in years, he had the time and space to feel his feelings, pay attention to his past pain, move up and out and onward. Are we supposed to believe after that 3 years away and maybe 1 of therapy that that's it? He's done now, all healed, squared away? What exactly has changed in Kansas to assure us that he will be any happier there than he was prior? Henry was there then too. Little has changed with Michelle. His mum delivered some food and guilt then left. The show hasn't spent enough time in Kansas to assure us of Ted's happiness or continued growth. Literally, all we know is Henry is there. And BBQ sauce. (And Michelle's boyfriend has turned into a dick suddenly, conveniently).
What we do know well is what Ted is leaving behind. A rich and challenging world, wacky and wonderful experiences with a diverse community, a loved and actively loving chosen family. So are we supposed to read this ending like "The Wizard of Oz" which has the most disingenuous final line in movie history? Yes, Oz has some dangerous territories and menacing figures (represented by Rupert etc). But Oz is also where Dorothy's friends, her found family are. Oz is in bright technicolour. It's surprising and bizarre and bright. It's larger than life and full of weird characters and unexpected episodes. Oz is where we all want to be, to live, to stay. Richmond is Ted's real life Oz. It's where we want to be and want him to stay, even if only in our imaginations. In the finale he says: "There's no place like home but there's no place like Richmond either" (or something similar, only watched it once). This implies that Richmond is not his home, that homes are just where you come from. Homes are not found or created or collaborated on together. They aren't malleable, moveable. They aren't out there in the wild, potential beyond. They are behind us always, defining us by our often sad pasts.
Again, this idea is entirely contrary to the premise of the show and the progress of its characters who banded together under Ted's leadership to create a home, a family, a community. Unlike Ted's small, conventional family unit, his found family is queer-coded (as all found families are, since they suggest an alternative to traditional nuclear family units based on shared biology but not necessarily values). Logical families are the family you find after you have been ejected from the traditional biological family unit. They are sought and created, based on common interests and mutual support. They are made up of people who are likewise separated from their homes, due to distance, circumstance, fracture, whatever. The home world is displaced, but it is still home (and all the more precious for it). In this case, the queer-coded found family of TL includes and celebrates LGBT+ folk (took a while for them to get there but eventually they did), women, people of colour and any man choosing to do masculinity his way. This is the environment the show set up. This the environment the creators invited us into. This is the environment Ted left behind.
Now, I do think there could have been a way for Ted to return to Kansas and Henry (but not Michelle) that would have been consistent with and faithful to this initial set-up and its themes. But that isn't what we got. Like Dorothy waking up to a dingy black and white world where there's nothing to do but talk to your dog about all the adventures you long to have over the rainbow, Ted's Kansas looks grey and dull and muddy. And Ted looks like he only half-remembers the most vivid and important things he's ever seen and done. "Be a goldfish" is a useful idiom for dropping baggage that weighs you down. If you burn your tongue on your coffee but don't wanna be irritated all day, then it works. It doesn't work for a scenario in which you need to deal with the reality that you and your co-parent/ex have carved out very different life paths. Simple, wilful ignorance is not a solution to the sort of complex family circumstances that grown adults face every day. Just forgetting the past 3 years and moving on like nothing ever happened does not in any way guarantee Ted's happiness or his success as a father. Attempting to find fulfillment through that one! special! person!! is unlikely to end well. Whether it's a parent, partner or child, the burden on them is unfair.
Ted's predicament is a huge one but it's also one that has been there from the very beginning. They had 3 years and 30+ episodes to resolve it satisfactorily, using all of the freedoms that fictional realities can afford. And yet, when Rebecca brings up the various ways in which she is willing to adjust to Ted's fatherhood, these suggestions are made to sound ridiculous, impossible and totally futile. But are they? Are they anymore outlandish than any of the other highly optimistic plot points they've gleefully included? Ted flourishes personally and professionally in this milieu. And had they made a move earlier in the series, Henry could also have integrated into it and benefited greatly from it. (He clearly enjoys the club when he's there). As Rebecca implies, Ted has the opportunity to offer Henry a richer, wider and more diverse view of the world than he would otherwise have. He would have access to a queer-coded community that includes and celebrates, experiments and strives. He would see his dad loved, celebrated and supported. This show takes some BIG optimistic swings. If audiences were able to make the emotional leap of accepting Ted leaving his son in ep 1, then they can probably be trusted to make the leap of him staying, esp. if the writers took the time each season to establish how they will manage their relationship and the benefits each will glean from such an arrangement.
After all, Ted is not one to back down from a challenge. Taking the job at Richmond was a bold and brave move. This is the same man who pledged to "win the whole fucking thing". This is the same man who looked Rupert Manion in the eye then promptly whipped him at darts. But when it comes to distance co-parenting, he's not even open to suggestions? No "I appreciate you" for the boss/bestie, just oh-so-sage resignation? Please. These writers set up this predicament then refused to resolve it in a satisfactory way. Instead, they reduced Richmond FC to a dream and Ted to a memory-challenged goldfish who flails about when faced with the reality of a pre-existing predicament of his own creation. He rejects the help of others who could actually provide real-world solutions. Nor does he seem to register the possibility of a mature relationship with a woman who wants him and connects with him. Instead, he chooses to forget, keep swimming, paddle backwards -- not onward, not forward. He has a big pool, a new home, a found family that represents human complexity and plurality. But he chooses the small, simple and singular. A traditional three-part family unit that was supposed to make him happy but never did. He had his little holiday jaunt in technicolour land, a fun lil detour into an expansive rainbow family community. He came in, tinkered about with some people's problems: gave a middle-aged woman confidence here, supported a sad gay there. But rainbow families are not just a temporary playground for white cishet dudes with a saviour complex to get their own admirable values reflected back to them. In the end, Ted's found family had something absolutely vital to teach him that he did not stick around long enough to learn.
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pansyfemme · 1 month
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thinking about an ask i got when i was 14 that has stuck with me forever because it was like. accusing me of lying about having bi4bi parents. why would that be anything even remotely interesting enough to lie about
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bread-that-draws · 10 months
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Sorry not to be insane about fictional characters again but like. Nimona’s big “monster” scene. How she realizes nothing has changed. How she discovers her “allies” were willing to turn on her the moment there was a reason to do so. How her roar is an anguished scream. How something as simple as a kids commercial about slaying monsters, something nobody else even bats an eye at, causes so much pain. How what she turns into is so unlike her usual shifting. How the director was ready to destroy innocent people to get rid of her. How it didn’t matter to the director if innocent people got hurt just to get rid of this “threat”. How the director, just as capable as hurting people, isn’t the one demonized. How this moment has been quietly building up the whole movie, even though she brushes it off, even though she pretends not to care (how she seeks out a supposed murderer because he may understand her, how an arrow to the leg isn’t a big deal to her, how she plays up the “monster” stereotype but hates being called one, how her first breaking point is a little girl showing the same generational hate that Gloreth showed, how she always explained what she was as Nimona). How done with all of it she is. How she gives up. “I see you”.
How Nimona is such a fucking queer story that it makes me explode
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queerism1969 · 2 years
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I really like this blog cause it's supporting of transmasc lol! So I think I want to share my story with this one annoying kid 😊 (expect the worst the kids delusional) so I had eventually decided to come out to this thing, next day? "Oh My mOm ToLd Me ThAt YoU cAnT cHaNgE yOuR GeNdEr!" tried to explain to him that he shouldn't believe his mom all the time and hes like "NO! SHE'S MY MOM!! I HAVE TO BELIEVE HER!! RAGHHHHH AGGHHHH DJKSIAJDKSOSHF" so yeah, now I know how transphobic kids come from transphobic parents. May come back with more experiences idk
how old is this kid? if it’s a kid under the age of 10 or so, then it makes sense for them to believe their parents since most kids still idolize their parents at that age.
but either way, i’m sorry that happened to you
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stormy404 · 6 months
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How to hide being queer from your parents 101
First, before I start this mini-essay/guide, I want to say:
Te/rfs fuck off from this post. In fact, ageists fuck off from this post as well. You mfs are the exact reason why it isn't safe for most kids to come out as queer.
Alright, now let's get to the actual guide.
If it can be avoided, never use the apps for social media where you're out as queer. All it takes is one unlucky search through your phone by your parents in order to out you. Instead, use the websites. If you really have to use the app, uninstall it when you're done with it, and only reinstall it when you know your parents are somewhat far from you. Also, make sure to log out of said accounts when you're not using them.
Regularly delete your search history. I don't just mean to do it once every couple days, do it ASAP whenever you've searched something you wouldn't like your parents to see. It may look suspicious, but suspicion is better than being outed to homophobic parents. I recommend having a search browser like opera gx or firefox nightly where you can easily and quickly delete search history.
When on the internet, always have a "Decoy Tab" ready. Simply have a tab open with some generic news site or youtube video open that you can switch to whenever you need to close out of a tab.
When coming out to someone in school or otherwise, only do so if you're absolutely sure they won't tell your parents.
You're gonna need to learn how to lie a lot. Always have an alibi on hand, and practice being able to make up lies on the spot. You're also gonna need to play dumb if you're caught.
Never browse queer content when near your parents. The bare minimum distance is 6-10 feet. The optimal distance is them not even being in the same building. I've almost been outed many times because my parents were close enough to quickly grab my phone.
Know the locations of your breaker and your wifi router. If your parents are searching through something like a desktop computer or a laptop, be prepared to cut out the wifi or even the power as a last resort.
Listen for footsteps and doors opening, and listen hard. If you even so much as think your parents are coming nearby, close out of anything you don't want them to see.
So yeah, that's the end of my tips. I would greatly appreciate it if you reblog this post, as I feel like it could help many people here. Also, feel free to add your own tips as well.
(As a final note, don't add any reblog bait in your reblogs like "unfollow me if you can't reblog" and similar stuff in that vein, as it can trigger people with OCD or anxiety. Thank you for your time.)
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unloneliest · 7 months
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the A in LGBTQIA2S+ stands for asexual and aromantic, yes. this absolutely is not a post arguing against that. but it is absolutely, critically vital that the A does also stand for ally. the plausible deniability that ally being a part of the acronym offers closeted people is a necessity. it's a matter of safety.
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butisittho · 8 months
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so i listened to reasons to be cheerful ep 300 with david tennant...
he started acting in a SOCIALIST THEATER COMPANY called 784 because 7% of the population own 84% of the wealth (eat the rich)
he agrees with socialist ideas such as the importance of community, that the least in society should be looked after by everyone else, the need for safety nets, and BEING KIND!
he decided to act when he was 3 and never changed his mind lol
"Do you know what’s making me cheerful at the moment? It’s pride month – the fact that pride month exists and is flourishing and is something that’s happening at a time when the world seems to be getting, in some corners, worryingly intolerant and weirdly backwards"
he talked a little about target removing pride merch bc of threats, and got very emotional (sounded a bit like he was crying, which made me cry :))
"I think we all need to put up our rainbow flags and we need to march and shout. (...) You want your children to grow up in a world that is kind, and you want your children to be kind and accepted for whoever they are, whatever they want to be! They should be allowed to be whatever they want to be! Everyone else just needs to butt out."
do you think he'll adopt me if i tell him i'm a lesbian
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