We are:
Parents who love our gay children.
Families who love our LGBT siblings, cousins, parents, and other family members.
Friends who see the challenges their LGBT friends face in a homophobic society.
Together, we are on a journey out of myth, fear and misunderstanding into truth, understanding and acceptance. On that journey we learn the facts about non-heterosexual orientation, share our experiences and discover unexpected opportunities to celebrate those we love who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered.
The best research available today indicates that somewhere between three and eight percent of all people are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. Given those percentages, approximately one of every five families includes someone who is gay.
Our LGBT daughters and sons come from two-parent families, single-parent families, and merged families. Gay people are part of every race, nationality, culture, religious and ethnic group and occupation.
Facts about our LGBT Children:
LGBT people are part of the family. Like everyone else, LGBT people have parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins who love them and whom they love and care for. When any person is rejected because of his or her sexual orientation, everyone in the family suffers unnecessarily. For the one rejected, the consequences are often tragic. Like every human being, LGBT people need the unconditional love and acceptance of their family, and those who receive it have a greater chance of living a healthy and fulfilling life.
Being LGBT is not a choice. Sexual orientation is not a “lifestyle” choice. Sexual orientation is just one of the many ways that people differ. Just as a heterosexual person does not choose to be attracted to the opposite sex a LGBT person does not choose their orientation either.
Homosexuality is not a disorder and cannot be changed. Both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association have recognized that homosexuality is not a mental or emotional disorder. Therefore, it does not need to be “cured.”
American Psychiatric Association: All major professional mental health organizations have gone on record to affirm that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of Trustees removed homosexuality from its official diagnostic manual, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Second Edition (DSM II). The action was taken following a review of the scientific literature and consultation with experts in the field. The experts found that homosexuality does not meet the criteria to be considered a mental illness.
PFLAG Lubbock 