Teach your teen tolerance. Teens need to identify with different groups, it’s part of the work of an adolescent. But identifying with one group does not mean that the other group is wrong or bad. Talk to your teen about tolerance of different groups and how to show respect of someone different than you.
Promote bullying awareness and support safety initiatives in your teen’s school. There is never any reason why a child – straight, gay, black, Latino, white or female – should not be safe in his/her own school. Call your teen’s school and discover the policy for bullying behavior. Ask if the school has proactive plans on deterring bullying behavior. Find out more about it and offer you help.
Reach out to parents of gay teens and offer your support and friendship. Being friendly is the easiest thing to do and you get to model the behavior you are expecting from your teen.
Parenting Poll: Do you talk to your teen about sex and his/her sexuality?
