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Hello! My ten-year-old niece has confided in me that she thinks she is gay, and is scared. I know from my experience her maternal family will be supportive but I am concerned for a few reasons:
She is visually impaired and she is insecure about this on top of being gay. All searches for other visually impaired gay gals brings me gross jokes. Do you know of resources that may make her feel less alone? I can talk about my own experiences to her, but I know she could use people she can relate to. As is she feels like the only blind gay in her school and she already struggles with making friends.
Because I am the very QUEER one of the family, I worry that there will be some push back and accusations that I am influencing my niece and her sister, or for better words, converting them. I see this happening with my niece’s seven-year-old sister, suddenly proclaiming that she likes girls when previously she talked a lot about boys. I really don’t care who the kids like and want to be supportive and encourage them to explore their identity, but I feel there is such a stigma already about queers and kids and the kids’ paternal family is super conservative!
Many thanks,
Em
Let’s take a moment to pause and acknowledge how awesome it is that your niece has you in her life and that she feels safe enough to share this with you. She’s going through something confusing and kinda scary and is incredibly lucky to have someone like you in her life to guide her through this process. You clearly care deeply for her and her well being and she trusts you with her burgeoning identity. That she talked to you about this at all is a beautiful and important thing that a lot of young people don’t have. So know that just being there for her is already making an enormous difference!
The other side of it is that you are taking on an important position in her life and that can also be scary and intimidating. Add conservative family members on top of that and you’ve got lot of responsibility on your plate. Know that these feelings are valid, but also know that you’re not alone. I make queer media for kids in a public space and it’s really scary! There’s an immense pressure that comes with being a queer role model for young people. A lot of that pressure comes from internalizing the stigmas you mention around queerness and young people. I’m here to help!
First, here are some really awesome thought leaders your niece can look to who can speak to the intersections of queerness and ability. As a currently able-bodied queer person these are people I follow to expand my knowledge of the disabled community and its queer intersections. Some are more kid-friendly than others and I would encourage you to point your niece toward these people and to follow them yourself to expand your knowledge and help your niece navigate issues around her ability status from a space of knowing. Belo Cipriani is a queer, visually impaired disability activist. I found him through an organization called LightHouse, a non-profit for blind and visually impaired folks headquartered in San Francisco. She might also like Tommy Edison, a blind comedian on Youtube. Here are also some other awesome queer disability activists who I love and could be helpful resources: Autostraddle’s very own Carrie Wade writes beautifully about queerness and disability, Ali Stroker is a singer and actor and the first person on Broadway to perform in a wheelchair, Annie Elainey is a super smart YouTuber and activist who frequently talks about intersections of queerness and disability, Rikki Poynter is another YouTuber and activist who is hard of hearing, and Zach Anner is another fantastic creator with Cerebral Palsy. These content creators will not only increase your (and your niece’s knowledge base; but also reaffirm that she is not alone in being disabled and (potentially) gay. You can embrace both of those things and lead a fulfilled life!
And now to deal with the issues around your niece’s conservative family members. Stigmas surrounding queer people and kids are rampant and they aren’t going away anytime soon. But we have to put the work in to debunk these ideologies. I truly believe that these conversations will progress our movement toward a better future for queers. But these conversations are scary and difficult and new even for queer people and they require a lot of emotional labor. I get comments all the time that my work is inappropriate for kids or that I’m sexualizing and brainwashing children. Here’s what I’ve found works best in those arguments:
First, separate queerness from queer sex. Sexuality is about a combined understanding of gender and narratives of love and relationships. Talking to a kid about gayness does not need to include a discussion of gay sex. Kids don’t understand sex and frankly they don’t need to because it doesn’t really affect them and their lives until puberty. Kids don’t need to understand queer sex to understand queerness because they don’t understand sex in the first place, or at least in the way we understand and experience it as adults. That’s where I usually start. That argument is great for debunking stigmas around queerness and sexualizing kids by taking sex out of the equation.
For talking through the brainwashing or conversion stigma, I usually turn to the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in children’s media. It’s important for kids to learn about queerness to balance out the lack of media representation that’s oversaturated with stories of cisgender heterosexual romance. It’s about diversifying their knowledge of the world and the humans in it. What’s important about this is that no amount of knowledge about queer people is going to make a kid more or less gay. Adults tend to think that queer kids are going through a phase or that they’re confused, but that’s rarely the case. People pick up on information and narratives they identify with, no matter their age. If a kid is gay, then they’ve always been gay. The age at which they realize that doesn’t change anything. But that can be a difficult concept for straight cis people to understand.
Then I would try connecting it to your story as a queer kid. When did you first realize you were gay? Can you point to specific memories of recognizing your queerness at a young age? Do you have friends you could point to with experiences like this? Sharing your story with them helps create empathy that will help you and your niece in future conversations and interactions with conservative family members. Adults often forget that kids are just small people with thoughts and feelings and identities of their own that are valid. You are a queer adult who was once a queer kid and there was no moment where you “became gay,” because that’s who you’ve always been. The same is true for your niece and her sister despite their age. Kids are autonomous people with valid identities, and a lot of adults forget that.
And finally, use the support from the rest of your family to your advantage. When your niece is more comfortable being out with the rest of the family, let your allies help you. There’s a lot of emotional labor tied up in all this and you want to conserve that energy to use with your niece rather than with your conservative family members. Let your allies do some of the work for you. The saying is true, it does take a village.
Also, also. Jessica Kellgren-Hayes is a disabled lesbian youtuber https://www.youtube.com/user/MissJessicaKH
She has numerous disabilities, one of which involves vision impairment… but more importantly she is rad and confident and has all ages friendly content.
SUBBED! And she’s British!! Thanks for adding the rec :)
Reset my password just to come and say that Jess is literally the best and was my gay fairy godmother and is so kind and lovely and all over wonderful and I 10/10 would agree with this rec.
“That she talked to you about this at all is a beautiful and important thing that a lot of young people don’t have. So know that just being there for her is already making an enormous difference!
The other side of it is that you are taking on an important position in her life and that can also be scary and intimidating.”
This. What a beautiful, compassionate response.
Thanks! I hope it’s helpful :)
linds this is great i love you and think YOU’RE great too.
THANK YOU ILY <3 <3 <3
I am ugly silent crying thank you all so, so much for answering my question and all your resources. I will be getting back to all of you when I’m not browsing autostraddle before bed trying to get to sleep. I am so overjoyed by all the responses and at this wonderful reply. Thank you Lindsey, Molly, Rachmelia, and everyone else who’s responded.
– Em (or mouse, whatever)
Em,
I am a blind lesbian and first, I want to say how happy I am that your niece has you in her life! I didn’t know any other blind queers when I was figuring it out and that was scary–now I know tons, and am part of an organization which recently started an LGBT group where one of our main objectives is to mentor blind and visually impaired kids (and adults!) in this situation. If you search “National Federation of the Blind LGBT Group” on Facebook you’ll find a group that you are more than welcome to join, although obviously your niece may be a bit young at this stage to be on Facebook herself. I truly believe that the greatest resource available to you and your niece will be other blind/VI folks who can share their experiences and let her know that she is not alone. Please, please feel free to message me here or to post in the Facebook group I mentioned–I would be more than happy to talk to you or your niece about anything you mentioned above!
When I was coming out I felt like I was too weird and too Other to even exist (I’m also not white). I felt like all queer people thought I was a freak because of my blindness, and all blind people would reject me for being queer. I feared that my parents would see my coming out as me choosing to make my life harder when it was already hard enough (to be clear, I have never wished I wasn’t blind or gay, but I know that my parents are very aware of the (socially constructed) barriers I face as a blind person, and would worry that I’d face even more as a gay person. My family did not care. I have a partner who I’ve been with for almost 4 years and they love her. I have a bunch of other blind, queer friends, in person and online. I helped to start the LGBT group I mentioned above and am working to support other blind queer folks who are also afraid, as well as to make queer spaces more accessible and disability spaces more queer friendly. I hope this doesn’t come off as bragging–I just want you to know that your niece will be okay and accepted and happy, and there are TONS of people just waiting to support her and love her for every part of her identity. :)
Thank you thank you for sharing this advice and your story, Molly :)
Thank you Lindsay for writing such a wonderful, thoughtful post–I forgot to mention that in my comment! <3<3<3
<3 <3 <3
I couldn’t have said it better than Molly already has. Finding people who share a particular intersectionality can make a huge difference in your comfort level with yourself and in your confidence to be open and live your authentic life. I’m a blind trans lesbian woman who is also a member of the group Molly mentioned, and having supportive peers who can share experiences helps a lot.
M, you said your niece was also insecure about her vision loss. That is a feeling I can relate to. It took many years before I was comfortable saying, “I’m blind,” and acknowledging that the alternative techniques I use to live the life I want might be different, but they make me no less valuable than the person who uses their eyes to do the same thing. I bring this up because I think it’s beneficial to find mentors and resources that can help her get to a place where she’s comfortable with that aspect of her life too.
I’m not sure where you live, and my experience is admittedly limited to the US, but I would recommend connecting with the National Federation of the Blind if you are in the United States, or a similar organization in your own country if you’re not. In addition to the previously mentioned LGBT group, the NFB has groups that exist specifically to help parents of blind and low vision children as well as provide resources (such as mentoring and peer networking) to the children themselves.
To give just a little background: the National Federation of the Blind is the largest consumer organization of blind people in the US. The key distinction is ‘of the blind’. A lot of organizations operate, ‘for the blind,” which in a lot of cases translates to, “here’s what we think is best for you, regardless of your collective experience.” To put it another way, it would be like if AS were being run by a bunch of straight white men. :-) Connecting with an organization where blind people speak for ourselves will ensure you’re getting experience and advice from people who live what they’re talking about daily.
Please feel free to PM if there is anything else I can help with. I’d love to help you connect with the NFB or a similar organization wherever you live.
Thank you so much for this. I am joining the group and really appreciate your outreach, I will be in touch. I also believe connection and communication with other visually impaired LGBTQIA people is exactly what she needs, and while I can (and have) give her my own history and experiences, it’s not the same because this is not an intersection I ever had to navigate. I recently contacted the local LGBTQ group for youth services I could bring her (they do!), and asked them if they had any resources for disabled queers, but they don’t. I would also love any resources on how to go about advocating for this.
So much love and appreciation for you all.
Just wanted to add resources I know of! Everyone is gay is probably my favorite resource for LGBT young people, especially those who are just starting to learn about themselves and have lots of questions. Here’s a link to their content tagged as disability-related http://everyoneisgay.com/category/identity-intersectionality/disability/
They have a sister site for parents of LGBT youth called My Kid Is Gay that is very good and very approachable, I think it would be a great resource for your niece’s family and help dispel some of the issues you’re worried with them having. While Blind LGBT Pride International (http://blindlgbtpride.org) unfortunately doesn’t seem to have many youth-specific resources, I think just the fact that it exists and is a huge international group will help with her feelings of being “the only blind gay person”. And while I agree that it’s important to talk about queerness to youth without sexualizing them, queer sex ed for youth is important (and often comes up sooner than you might expect- 10 years old is only about a year off from starting middle school which is when most kids start to be bombarded with weird, hetero-misogynist misinformation about sex by their classmates)- when she gets old enough to need that, Scarleteen is a pretty unbeatable, gender and sexuality inclusive youth sex ed resource.
Yes yes yes to all this! I <3 EIG & MKIG (although their content does tend to skew a wee bit older). QUEER-INCLUSIVE SEX ED IS SO IMPORTANT!
Oh my gosh thank you so much to both Em for bringing this super important question/topic up, and also to Lindz for writing such a beautiful response.
<3