Post by Logan on Mar 21, 2016 6:22:14 GMT -6
MONTPELIER — When Sen. Brian Campion came out as gay to his parents, it was as positive an experience as any teen in his situation could hope for.
“I was 12 or 13, and I left a note on the kitchen table for my mother, saying this was a real concern for me,” recalled the now-45-year-old Democrat from Bennington County.
“I went to bed and she woke me up, had me come out and talk to her, and her message to me was, ‘Listen, your father and I love you. The whole family loves you and we’re going to be supportive of whoever you are,’” Campion said. “That was a huge relief for me. I can be a kid and do my thing, put this out of my mind. I want other people to have that experience.”
For other youth who come out to their families, the experience can be far less than positive than Campion’s. Some parents respond by kicking teens out of the house and out of their lives. Others look to pseudoscience and religion in an attempt to change their child’s sexual orientation.
Read more: www.timesargus.com/article/20160320/NEWS01/160329939
“I was 12 or 13, and I left a note on the kitchen table for my mother, saying this was a real concern for me,” recalled the now-45-year-old Democrat from Bennington County.
“I went to bed and she woke me up, had me come out and talk to her, and her message to me was, ‘Listen, your father and I love you. The whole family loves you and we’re going to be supportive of whoever you are,’” Campion said. “That was a huge relief for me. I can be a kid and do my thing, put this out of my mind. I want other people to have that experience.”
For other youth who come out to their families, the experience can be far less than positive than Campion’s. Some parents respond by kicking teens out of the house and out of their lives. Others look to pseudoscience and religion in an attempt to change their child’s sexual orientation.
Read more: www.timesargus.com/article/20160320/NEWS01/160329939