Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child

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 through a world that isn’t always welcoming. 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
Confront bullying of gay children
Become an advocate for gay children
Build a support system in a gay family
Gender and sexuality: Eriksen also covers the science on gender and sexuality 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 to help them.

LGBTQ parents will learn…

How to help their 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)