My Story

    I have the unique perspective as a parent of a bisexual preteen as I was a questioning preteen nearly 25 years ago. My first crush was Nancy McKeon from "The Facts of Life" — she was pretty but was a tomboy so it seemed more 'okay'. Then I remember seeing "Teen Witch" and becoming completely smitten with the red-headed teen in the starring role.

    It wasn't until I was a few years older that I realized why I cherished the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders poster I had and what it all meant. In my senior year of high school it all came together and I started looking for my first exprience but I didn't have my first girl-girl kiss until I was nearly 30.

    When my daughter told me she was attracted to some girls the same she was guys, I confess I was a bit surprised. Not so much that she is as I'd been wondering for a bit now, especially after some of the things she said about summer camp. What surprised me was that she told me at all and how she told me, as if it was the commonest thing in the world for a kid to say to their parent.

    My biggest concerns were protecting her from getting hurt by telling too many people about it. I told her who some of the people she could and couldn't tell. For example, my stepmother can't be told as she just has no acceptance for people who are not straight and in the past has banned people from her life because they were gay. Thankfully, her father's side of the family is much more open-minded and would not be bothered by it and most of my friends are open-minded enough to tell them.

    Next on the list was making sure she understood that doing anything with a girl, even just holding hands or kissing, came with the same emotional consequences as it would if it were a guy. Obviously, with another girl she couldn't get pregnant but she would still be susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. School has covered most of the information she needed for that and explained about methods to prevent getting them.

    Then I started a quest to find out more information and resources. I wanted to make sure I was offiering my daughter solid advice and provide her with places to get information on her own. I called on the help of a lesbian friend who is very involved in programs and organizations for lesbian and gay teens for help. What we found that there were very few actual resources. The goal of this site is to change that.