By Sarah Kahn
Staff Writer
South Bay Families Connected hosted an event called “LGBT+ Identities and Understanding the Spectrum of Sexuality and Gender Expression” on Feb. 15 at the Pages bookstore in Manhattan Beach.
SBFC founder Laura McIntire organized the event where marriage and family therapist Linda Reeves and Mira Costa Guidance Counselor Jennifer Wildenberg spoke about the importance behind understanding and accepting LGBT youth.
“I know McIntire from work I’ve done,” Reeves said. “We realized that this was a piece of information parents needed to know.”
The event focused on recognizing and clarifying the identity vocabulary. It offered insight on gender-variant youth and reinforced the importance of a parent’s support in its child’s journey toward discovering its identity, Reeves said.
“I’m a mother of a gay son who went through the Manhattan Beach School District,” Reeves said. “He came out in the seventh grade after being bullied and experiencing damaging things.”
After speaking about her son’s experience with coming out and prior bullying, Reeves talked about how to support a child through such a process. She emphasized the importance of parental support for their children on the path of discovering themselves.
“I shared the damage that is done when children are not validated and affirmed for their identities,” Reeves said. “In our case, we supported our son; however, a lot of parents have some unhealthy ideas about how to deal with their kids becoming themselves.”
Link: Visit SBFC’s page to learn details about the LGBT event.
During the event, speakers explained the meaning behind a variety of commonly-used terms within the LGBT community. Reeves and Wildenberg mentioned how acknowledging and using these terms correctly are important steps in understanding LGBT youth.
“We’d like to give kids a variety of tools and techniques,” Reeves said. “They can understand what it might be like to be the child who’s feeling the cultural pressure of being nonbinary and gender nonconforming and come out in a culture steeped in stigma.”
The event was part of SBFC’s Teen Wellness Speaker Series. The series is dedicated to monthly events that educate the community on how to prevent substance abuse for their kids by understanding and adapting to their needs as they grow older.
“I think that for students who are feeling victimized or ostracized, this event was a great place to come.” Reeves said.
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