Way Out Parent's blog

Positive gay-world connections can be made in the most unlikely places—if you’re creative. Here are some ideas to get you started. And remember, there’s no such thing as over-consumption of television programming as long as you can make it educational.

Way Out Parenting: Why do I feel as if I have more in common with straight people than I do with gays? Am I becoming ungay?

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 8:54pm.

It’s natural for gay parents to feel discomfort about their assimilation into the straight world. While you existed in your gay ghetto, straight people were the enemy. You despised, envied, feared, and longed to be them. You defended yourself against your deep feelings of inferiority by telling yourself you had no interest in their boring, monochromatic lives. “I am living on the edge,” you told yourself. “I am a minority fighting for survival. I have important life and death issues to think about.” These issues included:

•How to survive the Bush-Cheney years

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Way Out Parenting: Do your parents need a 12-step program before you let them visit their grandchildren?

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Sat, 05/03/2008 - 7:27am.

Do you have remarkably supportive parents who fastened on their “I love my gay son” or "My lesbian daughter rocks" lapel pins the minute you confirmed their worst fears? Or do you have parents who summarily shut the door in your face after hearing your news? Now that you have a grandchild, don’t be surprised if some of these parents want back into your life. Grandchildren change all the dynamics. The question is: do you let them in?

Way Out Parenting: Gay Idioms You’ll Need to Teach Your Straight Children—Part III

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 7:04pm.

In Part I and Part II, we saw that gay idioms present various challenges for your straight children. But mastering them offers big payoffs too.

Way Out Parenting: Gay Idioms You’ll Need to Teach Your Straight Children—Part II

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 7:21am.

In Part I, we learned that your straight children are second language learners when it comes to the language of your gay heritage, and we learned how hard it is to master the idioms of a second language.

In this part, we’ll look at another obstacle your children face—and that is developmental readiness.

Way Out Parenting: Gay Idioms You’ll Need to Teach Your Straight Children—Part I

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 9:25pm.

As a full-fledged member of the gay culture, you are fluent in the rich language of your heritage. But sometimes you forget that you are bilingual, and you lapse into your gay language at home. This can cause great consternation for your straight children who are listening and don’t understand.

Second-language acquisition research has shown that idiomatic expressions pose the biggest challenge for second language learners. Your children desperately want to share your special language, but like all second language learners, they take your idioms literally.

Way Out Parenting: Should you send your child to Sunday or Hebrew school?

Submitted by Way Out Parent on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 6:50am.

The fact that you’re asking this question means you’re not quite as agnostic as you claim. You are probably a lapsed Catholic, protestant, or Jew who eschewed church- or synagogue-going shortly after your confirmation or bar/bat mitzvah but deep down still harbor latent religious impulses that you don’t admit to yourself.