This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Question & Answer Guide to Everyday Life (30 page)
Read This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Question & Answer Guide to Everyday Life Online
Authors: Dannielle Owens-Reid,Kristin Russo
STDs.
See
STIs
STIs (sexually transmitted infections), 121
,
122–25
,
131–32
,
136
Support
importance of, 187–88
,
192
,
196
,
211
T
Transgender
parent’s perspective on, 165–68
V
W
Worries
about the future, 90–95
,
99–101
,
111–13
We wanted to proposition our publisher for fourteen pages in which to properly thank the following individuals, but then gently reminded ourselves that we are not (in this instance) the center of the universe. With that in mind, we would like to extend the biggest thanks possible to the following people, without whom this book would, quite literally, not exist: Dr. Linda Stone Fish, Dr. Justine Shuey, Dr. Sherri Palmer, Alyse Knorr, Tom Montgomery, Erika Lynn, Keanan, Zak, Tyler, Robert, Marianne, PFLAG Charleston, Anna Livia, and all of our magnificent interns. We’d also like to thank Joh, Laurel, Christian, Tonia, LT, Jen, Allison, Kristine, Sandy, Sloan, the entire Faccone family, Steven, Sammy, and Justin Bieber.
To all of the parents and teenagers and twenty-somethings who sat with us and shared their stories and their feedback: you are the reason we are doing this, and simultaneously the reason that we can do this.
To Lisa, for her way with words, her perfectly placed commas, her persistence, and her vision.
And finally, to JL, the hardest-working, most brilliant literary agent on planet Earth: you are our heart and soul.
Kristin’s thanks:
To my mom, who worked tirelessly to return to herself, her faith, and her daughter—I love you; to my dad, whose five-foot-seven, 140-pound frame would find the strength to fight the entire world on my behalf; to my sister, who just
gets it
; to my Aunt Theresa, who has never wavered in her ability to speak her mind, to be open to the thoughts of others, and to love fiercely and without hesitation; to Randi, my constant; to Trey, who
is always reliably covered in fur; to Jenny, who saves me from both myself and the world each and every day; and to Dannielle, who understands me in ways that no one else can, who works beside me every hour of every day, and who was put on this planet to be my partner in the most ridiculous and profound journey of a lifetime. We can’t stop.
Dannielle’s thanks:
I’d like to extend the warmest of thank-yous to the people in my life who have inspired me, challenged me, believed in me, and pushed me to work harder than I thought possible. To my friends and family, I cannot thank you enough for all that you do; to Dad, who has made me the person I am so proud to have become and who has taught me everything I know; to Janet, my sister from another mister who is also a cat; to Amanda, Hillary, Zettler, and Brynn who keep me in line, make me LOL, and remind me how to be a good friend; and to Kristin, my accidental life partner and fellow adventurer, who helps me keep my sanity, understands me in ways no one ever will, and who I can’t imagine my life without. We won’t stop.
photo credit: BARBARA GREEN
Dannielle Owens-Reid
(left) and
Kristin Russo
(right) have been dialoguing with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, and supportive families and friends, for more than four years through their award-winning website, Everyone Is Gay. They have also conducted an ongoing tour of college and high school campuses around the United States to increase awareness of LGBTQ issues. Dannielle lives in Los Angeles, and Kristin lives in New York.
Linda Stone Fish, M.S.W., Ph.D.
is a professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Syracuse University and a family therapist. She has published numerous articles focusing on family therapy with special populations, and recently coauthored the book
Nurturing Queer Youth: Family Therapy Transformed
with Dr. Rebecca Harvey. Dr. Fish lives in Syracuse, New York.
