Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Guide for Parents of Teens
Navigating questions of gender identity and sexual orientation can be complex for teenagers. As parents, it is essential to cultivate an open and welcoming environment, allowing your young person to express themselves freely and without judgment. Here are some tools to understand and support the different facets of your teen's identity while respecting their personal pace of exploration.
To remember
👉 The most important thing is to create an open and nurturing environment where your teen feels free to talk about their sexual orientation and gender identity without judgment.
👉Identity is personal. Let your teen choose the words that best describe their identity and orientation.
👉 Orientation and identity can evolve over time.
Understanding and Speaking the Same Language
Here are some terms you may encounter:
First, sexual orientation describes the emotional, physical, and/or romantic attraction a person feels towards another.
Regarding gender identity, it is the deep and personal feeling of being male or female, neither, or both. This feeling often appears very early in childhood but can become clearer during adolescence.
A cisgender person is someone whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth, while a transgender person has a differing gender identity from the sex assigned at birth. Finally, a non-binary person may feel neither male nor female, both, or any other combination of the two.
What do the acronyms LGBT, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+, or 2SLGBTQIAP+ stand for?
2SLGBTQIAP+ is the most comprehensive acronym used to designate individuals or communities:
Two-Spirit (2S)
Lesbians
Gays
Bisexuals
Trans
Queer and Questioning
Intersex
Asexuals and Aromantics
Pansexuals
The "+" refers to any other identity, orientation, or reality that is non-heteronormative or non-cisnormative. The acronyms LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+, have the same meaning but are less complete.
More Details…
🌈 Heterosexuality is the attraction to people of the opposite gender.
🌈 Homosexuality is the attraction to people of the same gender (in the acronym, the letters G – gay, and L – lesbian, correspond to a homosexual orientation).
🌈 Bisexuality is the attraction to individuals identifying as male and also those identifying as female.
🌈 Pansexuality refers to attraction to people, regardless of their gender.
🌈 Asexuality represents the absence of sexual attraction to anyone (and aromanticism, the absence of romantic attraction to anyone).
🌈 Two-Spirit is a term mainly used by Indigenous peoples to describe a fluid gender identity or sexual orientation other than heterosexual.
🌈 The word queer is a generic term used to describe individuals who do not conform to gender norms and/or sexual orientation.
🌈 Finally, a person may define themselves as questioning, meaning they are exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.
It is up to your teen to choose the best words to describe their sexual orientation and gender identity, not others.
The Importance of Exploring
Of course, there is no obligation for your teen to identify with one or another of these labels. Similarly, they may recognize themselves in one of them at a certain point in their life and change over time.
It may be difficult for them to put into words what they feel— or even to understand these feelings! The important thing is to offer them an open and nurturing environment where they can explore their identity without judgment.
If you have any questions or wish to obtain information about different sexual orientations, do not hesitate to contact us.
