If there was an LGBT guidebook...

How to make LGBT friends and meet new people when you live in a really small town

 

What would you intend to each us with the book? =) As you speak about a guidebook, do you intend to talk about self-acceptance? About anxiety? About pride? I'm curious. =)

It depends on what you want to tell, but you might give tips on how to accept yourself, you might inform about pride events, clear misconceptions about bisexuality (like, the myth that it doesn't exist - there are studies that show that both males and females can have sexual attraction to both genders), explain what pansexuality really is, and so on.. Oh, you should definitely include information about asexuality too. That some might really be asexual and that some people don't want to act on their true orientation, meaning that those are not asexual. I've read quite some acephobia, saying that asexuals are mentally ill or that they have acceptance issues, so it's important to cover such a topic.

If anything, the book might want to contain information about self-acceptance for religious LGBT people. For me, this is irrelevant (as I am not religious), but for quite some religious people it is a great deal: reconciling faith with sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Good luck! :icon_bigg

 

Coming out to parents is incredibly daunting, so a guidebook should have a section covering this specific issue.

 

Off the topic of my head:
- self-acceptance
- coming out, especially coming out to parents or people who you think won't accept you
- clearing up myths and stereotypes (especially about under represented group bisexuals, asexuality, trans people, etc)
- Information about as many groups you can (cover all the letters)
- Pride
- How to make LGBTQ friend or meet other LGBTQ people and connect with the community
- combatting homophobia
- keeping safe
- relationships
- safe sex
- how to cope with crushes on straight people
- a glossary of terms
- maybe a little bit on LGBTQ culture

 

^ Everything here

 

How to get over crushing on a straight best friend before if ruins your friendship

 

In terms of transgender stuff, How To Deal With Dysphoria. Because I still haven't figured that one out...

 

Everything

 

How to get your parents to let you to be yourself.
How to get your school to let you use the other part of the gender specific dress code.

 

God I wish there had been a LGBT Guidebook; it'd make things so much easier.

 

Intersectionality. All the labels that fall under our umbrella, and that they all need to be respected. How gender and sexuality intersect with race and socio-economic status.

Maybe that's more for a volume 2 though.

 

I agree with this.

 

Everyone above has covered some pretty important issues and I agree.
I guess self-acceptance and some of the internal problems/doubts we may have with ourselves initially.
Safe sex is super important! I was never taught anything in sex ed apart from penis in vagina sex.
Some things about LGBTIQA+ history, and just the issues from past to present.
Maybe things we should watch out for when looking for a job, when in school and wondering if we're allowed to take a same-sex date to prom, and the regulations on that.
Some helplines/organizations that can help struggling LGBTQIA+ teens.
How to come out to parents/friends and what to do if anything goes wrong.
Thorough explanation and education, a glossary, clearing up terms and stereotypes and so forth
Representation in media (this would be hard to be conclusive but) just a few starter books/shows/movies that have good representation of LGBTQIA+ people.

I'm 100% sure I haven't covered everything above but these are just off the top of my head at the moment. Best of luck!

 

I would make lesson 1 "there is nothing wrong with you."

 

A #1 question that would confirm whether the reader is trans or not. I'd try and get my hands on that book as quickly as possible.

 

This, plus not being judgmental within the community/accepting other people's identities.

 

A chapter on terminology I can use that won't offend someone in the community :dry:

Really though, there are a lot of terms that some folks identify as, or just like to use, that offends a lot of people, and it would be nice to have a list of the words that people are sensitive to so that I can avoid using them.

 

What to do when someone does something mean to you for the reason of you not beng like them (I do not want to know what it would be like if everyone at school knew, I have been told I am going to hell because of being another denomination).