Guidance on Providing Loving Support to Your LGBTQ Child
Winner of the Sixth Annual Bisexual Book Award for Non-fiction, 2017
#1 Bestseller in Lesbian Studies
Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child provides parents of a LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning) child with a framework for helping their LGBTQ child navigate a world that isn't always welcoming.
Tips from a mother with experience. Author Telaina Eriksen, a professor at Michigan State University and the mother of a gay daughter, explains what she and her husband have learned through experience, including how to deal with gay children coming out, tips on confronting bullying of gay children, guidance on becoming an advocate for gay children, and advice on building a support system in a gay family.
Gender dysphoria and other concerns. Eriksen also covers the science on gender and how to help a transgender child through the various stages of development. Throughout the book parents and kids who have been there, share their stories. She also directs gay family parents to various resources online for help.
Inside learn:
- How to help your child navigate locker rooms, sleepovers, proms, etc.
- When to involve the police or school administration when it comes to bullying
- How to advocate for local, state and national policies that protect your child
- Ways to educate well-meaning, but misguided extended family members
- How to help start a Gay-Straight Alliance at your child's school
- Strategies for keeping your child talking after he or she comes out
- Signs of unhealthy relationships
- When to consider therapy for your child and/or your family
- How to find an LGBTQ-friendly community (including inclusive churches)
If you liked books such as the ABC's of LGBT+, This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids, A Guide to Gender, or This Book Is Gay, you will want to read Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child.
About the Author :
Telaina Morse Eriksen was born in rural Michigan, the youngest of seven children in a working class family. She received a B.A. in journalism with concentrations in history, English, and political science from Michigan State University in 1990. She worked for many years in the educational software industry writing technical manuals, and doing marketing and public relations. She returned to school at age 39 to study for her MFA in creative writing, concentrating in both creative nonfiction and poetry. She graduated from Antioch University Los Angeles in December 2009. She has taught creative writing for the Department of English at Michigan State University for the last five years. Her work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in By One's Own Hand: Writing About Suicide Loss (an anthology) Mother is a Verb (poetry anthology), Under the Sun, The Fem, The Good Men Project, Role Reboot, The Manifest-Station, ARS Medica, Hospital Drive, Marco Polo Quarterly, The Truth About the Fact, poemmemoirstory and in many other online and print publications. Her essays have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2010 and 2011. She lives in East Lansing, Michigan with her husband of 24 years, her 16-year-old son, and her two dogs, Sprite and Clement. (Her 20-year-old daughter drops in from college for free wi-fi and laundry once or twice a month as well.)
Review :
"I've always said that if Telaina Eriksen wrote a parenting book, I would happily buy it. In Unconditional, Eriksen provides a pragmatic, empathetic guide for parents raising a child who identifies as LGBTQ. From coming out narratives to safe sex to navigating the public sphere, the book covers significant ground. Backed by research and accompanied by personal narratives, Unconditional offers a big-hearted, much-needed approach." --Robin Silbergleid, Author of The Baby Book and Texas Girl
"I was wowed by Eriksen's knowledge, compassion, and heart. When I was reading this book I just kept thinking, 'we all need to hear this, no matter how our children identify...'" --Sherry Richert Belul, Author of Say It Now and Simply Celebrate
"This book was enjoyable, informative, and easy to consume. I learned a lot even as an experienced therapist and advocate, and I very much look forward to using it with my clients and friends. It truly reminds me why parenting is the most difficult and insomnia-inducing job in the world, but also why it could be the most deeply rewarding and ultimately the most beneficial for society: it's about teaching people how to love." --Dr. Mimi Hoang
