Other people’s gay kids? Okay.
My own gay kids? No way!
People are less willing to “accept” that their child is gay, even if they are more okay learning that a relative or colleague is gay. This is according to a survey done by the Taiwan Equality Campaign, which wanted to gauge social attitudes on same-sex marriage and LGBTQIA rights among people aged 18 and older.
The survey (as reported by Taipei Times), was carried out by Trend Survey and Research Co through telephone interviews. After collecting 1,096 responses (margin of error: 3%), it found that:
- 72.2% said they could accept that a colleague or classmate was gay
- 68.7% could accept a teacher or superior being gay
- 68.5% could accept a relative being gay
- 64.2% could accept learning a city or county councilor or a legislator representing their electoral district is gay
- 61.1% could accept learning that their mayor, county commissioner or president is gay
However, only 52.3% said they could accept learning that their child is gay. This figure may be promising, nonetheless, since this is up from 49.2% in a similar survey last year.
The survey was done in Taiwan. However – and all the same – various studies have looked at the impact of family acceptance on LGBTQIA people.
In 2018, a study that appeared in Psychosomatic Medicine found that those who identify as LGBT and have come out to their family carry less stress hormones than those who have not come out, which may ultimately benefit their health.
In 2016, a study published in LGBT Health found that family rejection increases the risk of two critical health outcomes that are common among transgender individuals — suicide attempts and substance misuse.
And in 2010, a study published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing found that family acceptance of LGBTQIA adolescents is “associated with positive young adult mental and physical health”. As such, ether should be “interventions that promote parental and caregiver acceptance of LGBT adolescents are needed to reduce health disparities”.
