Please check out this guide created by the Institute of Pediatric Nursing:
LGBTQ-Sensitive Nursing Care for Youth
Resources for Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Questioning Pediatric Patients
"Q is for Questioning" (Scarleteen)
Questioning means "being in a process of figuring out what groups of people one may or does feel emotional and sexual attraction to based on gender, but not having any answer yet or at the current time. Someone questioning is someone for whom the question, "Are you gay or lesbian? Are you straight? Are you queer or bisexual? What's your deal?" is one that, at a given time, isn't one they feel they can answer or want to answer in any definitive or solid way. Sometimes people who are questioning may never have had an answer about their orientation or may never have identified otherwise; others have known their orientation in the past or identified as another orientation before, but are currently experiencing a possible shift, and presently feel they're not so sure anymore."
American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Guidance for Providers: LGBTQ Youth
Youth who are gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning are an important population with unique healthcare needs, as they may experience significant health disparities in mental health, substance use, and sexually transmitted infections. Providers should implement a teen-friendly practice that accommodates patients of different backgrounds and orientations as they move through adolescence. Sexually active LGBTQ youth are typically resilient and can emerge from adolescence as healthy adults. However, the presence of stigma from homophobia and heterosexism can lead to psychological distress, which may contribute to an increase in risky behaviors.
(Avery, a transgender girl who gained fame when she was made the cover of National Geographic on the January 2017 issue)
Coming Out
Coming Out Gay in Middle School (LiveAbout.com)
"Being Told You Are Too Young To Know For Sure: 'I came out in middle school, and I meant with all my heart that I was bisexual. People insisted that I was confused and didn’t know what I was talking about. The younger you are, the more clueless people assume you to be. Also, many of my teachers still let homophobic comments pass, and never point out how wrong it is, just like racist comments are. It really pushes my buttons, and I hope that one day I can go to school without hearing the word “gay” being used incorrectly.'"
Crushes (KidsHealth)
"You can't choose your crushes. Sometimes they sneak up on you and — wow — who was that? Your crush might be a classmate, a neighbor, your best friend's crush, an older kid, a friend of your brother or sister, a sister or brother of a friend, or a teacher at your school."
Bullying
Dealing with Bullies (KidsHealth)
"Bullies often pick on someone they think they can have power over. They might pick on kids who get upset easily or who have trouble sticking up for themselves. Getting a big reaction out of someone can make bullies feel like they have the power they want. Sometimes bullies pick on someone who is smarter than they are or different from them in some way. Sometimes bullies just pick on a kid for no reason at all."
LGBTQ Youth Share Their Stories, Offer Advice To Adults To End Bullying (GLAAD)
Bullying is a pervasive problem in the LGBTQ community with over 87% of youth reporting being bullied. When 59% of LGBTQ students feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, we must require ourselves as fellow community members and allies to take action.
School should be a safe place for every pupil, a primary centre for learning, developing and building a foundation for future success.
Puberty & Growing Up
Suppression of Puberty in Transgender Children (AMA Journal of Ethics, 2010)
Growing Up LGBT in America - Report (Human Rights Campaign)
Transgender Kids and Gender Dysphoria (Child Mind Institute)
"Young people who are transgender feel powerfully that they wish to be — or are — the other gender. They not only want to dress and act and be accepted as the other gender, but may feel extremely uncomfortable in their bodies, and want to change them, through hormone therapy or surgery, to align with their gender identity."
"Wait, What?" Is The Body-Affirming, Gender-Expansive, Sex Ed Comic Preteens Need (Autostraddle)
"It’s a message preteens need to hear as they navigate puberty, friendships, bodies, attraction, and the sticky mess of being a person. It covers the anatomical nuts and bolts of sexuality, sexual health and puberty and also dives into social aspects like consent, how to get support from adults you trust, sexuality and gender identity. The story features five friends: Rico, Malia, Max, Sam and Alexis. This group of middle schoolers are having a range of experiences with and feelings about sex and their bodies. They talk to each other about some of the tricky topics they’re facing, challenge each other’s biases and shame, and help pump each other up as they face different challenges."
Health
AMAZE - Age Appropriate Sex and Health Education for Youth Aged 10-13
AMAZE harnesses the power of digital media to provide young adolescents around the globe with medically accurate, age-appropriate, affirming, and honest sex education they can access directly online—regardless of where they live or what school they attend. AMAZE also strives to assist adults—parents, guardians, educators and health care providers around the globe—to communicate effectively and honestly about sex and sexuality with the children and adolescents in their lives.
The Q Card is a simple and easy-to-use communication tool designed to empower LGBTQ youth to become actively engaged in their health, and to support the people who provide their care. With input from queer youth, healthcare providers, and youth advocates, we've created a tool that we believe can change the way that queer youth receive care, and how their providers deliver it.
- Puberty: Maturation, Timing and Adjustment, and Sexual Identity Development Milestones Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual YouthThis study examined pubertal maturation, pubertal timing and outcomes, and the relationship of puberty and sexual identity developmental milestones among 507 lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth.
- Supporting and Caring for our Gender-Expansive YouthOver the last decade or so, new conversations around gender have been emerging. Increased visibility of children and youth whose gender identities and expressions challenge conventional understandings is teaching us that gender is not as simple as what the doctor declares at birth. As a consequence, many of society’s practices, policies and institutions are failing to meet the needs of the young people they intend to serve. Perhaps most disheartening, these shortcomings are revealed in the degree to which many youth — particularly those who do not fit our more conventional ideas about gender — feel marginalized, unsafe and less hopeful.
- Supporting and Caring for our Bisexual YouthBisexual youth face a unique set of challenges that affect their ability to flourish in their families, schools and communities.
- Supporting and Caring for our Latino LGBT YouthThe Human Rights Campaign's latest report - Supporting and Caring for our Latinx LGBT Youth - explores the experiences of nearly 2,000 LGBT youth who identify as Latinx. Produced in partnership with the League of United Latin American Citizens, the new report further analyzes the results of HRC’s groundbreaking survey of more than 10,000 LGBT-identified youth ages 13 to 17, Growing Up LGBT in America.
(High school lesbian couple - this was the image used for an article about a lesbian couple who were suspended from high school after one asked her girlfriend to prom)
Coming Out
Telling People Your Sexual Orientation - Or Not (TeenHealth)
"Coming out can be a little trickier in our teens because we depend on parents or other adults for our care and well-being. Some people live in places where being LGBT is accepted. It's easier for them to come out because they're more likely to get support from family and friends. Others realize their family or social environments aren't supportive and choose to wait until they're living on their own."
A Resource Guide to Coming Out (Human Rights Campaign)
"Throughout the process of coming out and living ever more openly, you should always be in the driver’s seat about how, where, when and with whom you choose to be open. If you're wondering how to come out, this guide was designed to help you through that process in realistic and practical terms. It acknowledges that the experience of coming out and living openly covers the full spectrum of human emotion – from fear to euphoria. Whether coming out to friends, family, coworkers or healthcare providers, your approach and timing will be as unique as your own sense of identity."
Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Teens: Facts for Teens and their Parents (Healthy Children)
If you are nervous about "coming out of the closet" or revealing your sexual orientation to others, that's OK. Not everyone accepts homosexuality so sharing this information may be difficult for you. Some people wrestle with this for years before finally deciding to do it. Others keep their sexual orientation a secret for their entire lives. Remember that only you can decide the best time to share this information with your family and friends. Do not feel pressured to "come out" before you are ready.
(Jazz Jennings, a trans woman who has been out since early childhood. She has a YouTube channel and TLC TV show, "I Am Jazz.")
Gender Identity
When Children Say They're Trans (The Atlantic)
"The number of self-identifying trans people in the United States is on the rise. In June 2016, the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated that 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender, a near-doubling of an estimate from about a decade earlier. As of 2017, according to the institute, about 150,000 teenagers ages 13 to 17 identified as trans. The number of young people seeking clinical services appears to be growing as well."
Bullying
LGBTQ Bullying - Making Schools Safe for LGBTQ Community
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer bullying is alarming. In fact 9 out of 10 LGBTQ+ students reported being harassed and bullied last year.
FURTHER RESOURCES:
True Colors United implements innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ young people.
CDC - Health Disparities Among LGBT Youth
10 Ways Educators and Gay Student Associations (GSA) Advisors Can Support Asexual Students
Questioning
How To Support Your Child Who Is Questioning Their Sexual Orientation (Everyday Feminism)
1. Don’t Dismiss a Questioning Child as ‘Just Going Through a Phase’ - Being told that who you are is a “phase” or that you will grow out of feeling a certain way can be pretty awful. But when teens question their a/sexuality, this is a standard message. And so what if down the line your child doesn’t identify as queer? No need to go back and pull the old “I told you so” on them! It is perfectly normal for young people to question a range of aspects of their identity. Plus (and this should be obvious), teasing a kid about her One Direction phase is really different than teasing someone about their bisexual phase.
How to Talk to Your Child Who Is Questioning or Identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Asexual (Children's Hospital Los Angeles)
"...LGBTQA children have better outcomes when they have supportive parents and families. 'Youth who have supportive families have a greater sense of self-worth and have a stronger safety net to fall back on when faced with the common challenges of growing up LGBTQA,' says John Thompson, MSW. 'Research shows that family support is a strong protective factor in building the resilience of youth and helping them cope with things like bullying, discrimination and conflict with peers.'"
Ask The Expert: Is My Child Transgender? (Human Rights Campaign)
"Social transitioning has to be the kid’s need, not the parent’s need. If a parent wants their child to socially transition because it’s easier than just having a kid who is gender non-conforming, that’s a problem."
Coming Out
Kids Coming Out in Middle School (Cafe Mom)
"As social norms about being openly gay change, it seems kids like Austin are coming out at a younger age than in generations before. This is not really that surprising since this is the age when most kids begin to tune into physical attraction, which is also "consistent with what many adult gay men have been reporting for years: they may not have come out until adulthood, but they knew they were attracted to the same sex as early as elementary or middle school." It is also consistent with the heterosexual experience."
Coming Out: Information for Parents of LGBTQ Youth (Healthy Children)
It is common for LGBT teens to feel scared or nervous during this stage. Some can start to feel isolated from their peers, especially if they feel that they don't fit in or are given a hard time for being different. Just remember that children who feel loved and accepted for who they are have a much easier time.
Are You An Askable Parent? (Advocates For Youth)
To be askable means that young people see you as approachable and open to questions. Being askable about sexuality is something that most parents and caregivers want but that many find very difficult. Adults may have received little or no information about sex when they were children. Sex may not have been discussed in their childhood home, whether from fear or out of embarrassment. Being askable is important. Research shows that youth with the least accurate information about sexuality and sexual risk behaviors may experiment more and at earlier ages compared to youth who have more information. Research also shows that, when teens are able to talk with a parent or other significant adult about sex and about protection, they are less likely to engage in early and/or unprotected sexual intercourse than are teens who haven’t talked with a trusted adult.
Gender Identity
Understanding Trans Teens: Trans Resources for Parents
"In more and more communities across the United States, transgender teens are comfortable coming out. That’s good news. But it’s also meant a learning curve—sometimes a steep one—for parents who are unfamiliar with transgender issues."
This guide is created to help anyone learn how to use people’s correct pronouns. Everyone in your school community should engage in learning, educating, and advocating for the inclusive use of pronouns for all.
How To Support Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Students (GLSEN)
According to GLSEN research, compared to other students in the LGBTQ community, transgender and gender nonconforming students face more hostile school climates.
Bullying
What You Can Do (StopBullying.gov)
Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying. If you know or suspect that your child is involved in bullying, there are several resources that may help.
Parent Guide to Bullying (Scholastic)
Strategies to stop sibling bulllying, cyberbullying, and books on anti-bullying for parents and children.
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
LGBTQ Youth More Likely To Seek Community Online (ABC News)
Get The Facts: Improve School Climate to Increase LGBT Students’ Well-Being and Reduce HIV/AIDS Risk
Check out Sex Etc. for LGBTQ-Inclusive Sex Education Resources!
"Wondering who writes the stories and blog posts for Sex, Etc.? Teens who are probably a lot like you!" Sex Etc. provides "honest and accurate sexual health information backed up by professionals," with content that is "written by teens, for teens, on timely topics that are relevant to teens' lives."
Sexual Attraction
Straight, Gay, and Everything In Between (Scarleteen)
"Part of the problem, then as well as now, is clearly a lack of vocabulary to even talk about attraction and orientation in ways that fall outside of the homo/hetero paradigm. What do you call someone who has identified as gay and is now in an opposite-sex marriage? What do you call someone who does not have any clear preferences in terms of gender (identity)?"
Sexual Attraction and Orientation (TeenHealth)
"LGBT teens might feel like they have to pretend to feel things that they don't in order to fit in with their group, family, or community. They might feel they need to deny who they are or that they have to hide an important part of themselves. Fears of prejudice, rejection, or bullying can lead people who aren't straight to keep their sexual orientation secret, even from friends and family who might support them."
Sex Education
Why LGBTQ Youth Need Sex Education (GLAAD)
Many Teen GIrls Don't Know They Can Get An STI From Other Girls (Vice)
Talking To Your Partner About Condoms (TeenHealth)
A Call To Action: LGBTQ Youth Need Inclusive Sex Education (Human Rights Campaign)
CDC - Protective Factors for LGBTQ Youth
What My Sex Ed Never Taught Me About Queer Relationships (GLSEN)
Among U.S. high school students surveyed in 2017:
- 40% had ever had sexual intercourse.
- 10% had four or more sexual partners
- 7% had been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to.
- 30% had had sexual intercourse during the previous 3 months, and, of these
- 46% did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
- 14% did not use any method to prevent pregnancy.
- 19% had drunk alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse.
- Less than 10% of all students have ever been tested for HIV.
Resources for LGBTQ Youth HIV+ Patients
CDC Sexual Risk Behaviors webpage 
CDC HIV and YouthCDC HIV Surveillance Report HRC HIV and the LGBTQ Community TeenHelp - HIV & AIDS Articles TeenSource HIV (AIDS) Symptoms, Treatment Options, & Resources The Trevor Project - HIV / AIDSUnheard Voices: From The Epicenter Of The AIDS Epidemic (GLSEN)
Resources on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
- A Practitioner's Resource Guide: Helping Families to Support their LGBT Children (SAMHSA)This resource guide offers information and resources to help practitioners in health and social service systems implement best practices to engage and help families and caregivers support their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children.
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): LGBTQ Youths Have Higher Rates Of Mental Illness Issues, AbuseTransgender youths experience anxiety, depression and attention-deficit disorders at higher rates than theirpeers, according to a new study.The study is one of three released today in Pediatrics that explore the types of adversity that lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents face.
- Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported In Their Identities (Pediatrics)
"Most studies of mental health among transgender people have examined adolescents and adults. These studies consistently report dramatically elevated rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality among transgender people. These elevated rates of psychopathology are likely the result of years of prejudice, discrimination, and stigma; conflict between one’s appearance and stated identity; and general rejection by people in their social environments, including their families. There is now growing evidence that social support is linked to better mental health outcomes among transgender adolescents and adults. These findings suggest the possibility that social transitions in children, a form of affirmation and support by a prepubescent child’s parents, could be associated with good mental health outcomes in transgender children." - LGBTQ - National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
If you live with a mental health condition and identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning (LGBTQ), it’s important to prioritize your mental health. Not all members of the LGBTQ community will have the same experiences. However, discrimination, prejudice, denial of civil and human rights, harassment and family rejection are still tragically common for people with these identities. LGBTQ people with mental health conditions may also find themselves fighting a double stigma. Many will experience prejudice based on their sexual and/or gender identity as well as the stigma associated with mental illness. Confronting these challenges and mental health symptoms with an LGBTQ-inclusive therapist can lead to better outcomes, and even recovery.