“You Have to Give Them a Place Where They Feel Protected and Safe and Loved”: The Views of Parents Who Have Gender-Variant Children and Adolescents

This study focused on the experiences of parents of gender-variant children and teens. The goal was to document issues faced by parents of kids with childhood gender-variant behaviors and/or gender-variant identity and to compile their wisdom. Telephone interviews were conducted with 43 parents of 31 youth (all who met the DSM criteria for Gender Identity Disorder) from across the United States. Parents were asked for a history of their child's gender, focusing on their experiences and their thoughts about how to parent gender-variant youth. Parents spoke about their gender beliefs, how they came to accept their child, and the main challenges they faced. The implications of these findings for gender-variant teens are discussed.