Home for the Holidays: The Ultimate Guide to Help You and Your LGBTQ+ Child This Season
11.16.2024This can be a difficult time of year for LGBTQ+ people and their families. This year, we’ve gathered all the articles and information in one place so you have what you need for a joyful, fulfilling holiday season.
Blogs and Articles
Why are the Holidays Hard for Many LGBTQ+ People? – SFA
We’ve talked before about how to make the holidays meaningful for your LGBTQ+ children, but do you know why this time of year can be such a struggle for LGBTQ+ of all ages? Today we’ll go over those reasons and provide a few tips on how to make your home a welcoming one…
How to Have a More Meaningful Holiday – SFA
Each holiday dinner, we encourage our gay child to bring any friends, straight or gay, that might not have a place to go. For nearly twenty years there have always been guests. Young people alone at Thanksgiving or Christmas or July 4. Once we had five visitors, always it’s one or two. Some come once, a few come several times…
How to Enjoy the Holidays with Your LGBTQ+ Child – SFA
Let’s face it, this isn’t the “most wonderful time of the year” for a lot of LGBTQ+ people and their families. Holidays can be a joyful and beautiful time of family togetherness, but if you’re a parent struggling with the news that your child is LGBTQ+, this season can be overwhelming. Today we’ll share some information and strategies on how to make the most of the holidays with your family this year. For Christians, Christmas is a reminder of God’s steadfast love for all people, including LGBTQ+ families and their children, and that God lives in all of us, no exceptions…
Coming Out to Extended Family: How to Support Your Child – SFA
So you’ve cleared the hurdle of your child coming out to you, but now they’re wondering about telling extended family members. This can be a scary prospect for many LGBTQ+ young people, so our job as parents is to make sure we’re helping them in the most respectful and loving way possible. Today we’ll share some tips and insights about how to do that while always following your child’s lead and instincts about who to tell and how to tell them…
How to “Ally” for the Holidays – PFLAG
And while there are countless great articles about how LGBTQ+ people can better handle holiday stress and conflict, there isn’t a lot out there about how allies can be part of creating a supportive and inclusive space for their friends at this time of year. As the largest ally organization in the U.S., we’ve got some great tips to try out and share for being a great ally to your LGBTQ+ friends at the holidays!
Going Home for the Holidays – The Trevor Project
Less than 40% of LGBTQ+ youth identified their home as an LGBTQ+ affirming space; I know for many LGBTQ+ people who did not grow up in affirming homes, the ability to create safe havens for themselves can be essential for healing. And this holiday season, many LGBTQ+ young people may be leaving their safe havens and returning to painful places…
Six Things to Remember this Holiday Season If You Are LGBTQ+ – HRC
No matter how you celebrate, HRC offers tips to not only help you celebrate, but also get you through a time that can be difficult for LGBTQ+ people.
Guides
Going Home for the Holidays…Or Any Days – PFLAG
While for some LGBTQ+ people holidays mean celebration, joy, family, and togetherness, for others, it can mean a time of stress, difficulty, and even sadness or depression…especially if one feels that they aren’t able to come out or are not out to everyone in the family. No matter what, PFLAG National is here to help provide you support and information for the holidays, or any time of year that folks are headed home…
Resources for people of faith
For many of us, the holidays are based around celebrating important faith traditions. The conventional narratives about LGBTQ+ people in many religions can make it confusing and difficult for parents to express their faith and figure out where they belong in their faith community. These resources will help you navigate that process.
Faith-Based Organizations – SFA
A compilation of Faith-Based organizations around the country that support LGBTQ+ people from nearly every major religion and denomination.
Issues of Faith – SFA
For many people who are a part of a religion or faith, there may be a conflict between some religious beliefs and their love for their LGBTQ+ child. We have suggestions that can help.
PFLAG National Faith Resources – PFLAG
An ever-evolving list of helpful resources for families that are working through reconciling long-held faith beliefs with long-held love and support for an LGBTQ+ person or the community at large.
Videos
Sharing Space (2023)
While not holiday specific, this roundtable series featuring conversations with LGBTQ+ young people provides a much-needed platform for young trans and nonbinary voices to share about their personal journeys and explore what genuine allyship looks like among curious, open-minded adults and allies.
Going Home Should be Beautiful (2019)
Although 137 million Americans will travel home this holiday season, this video from GLAAD highlights how an estimated 44% of LGBTQ+ people feel like they cannot come home as their true selves.
How to Make Your Home a Safe Place for LGBTQ+ Kids (2019)
The Holiday season can be a busy and stressful time for anyone, but for LGBTQ+ kids it can be an especially triggering and difficult time. Julie Cole (and her daughter Posey) discuss how she ensures her home is a welcoming and supportive place for her LGBTQ+ family and friends.
Heartwarming short films from Encircle for LGBTQ+ people and their families about what matters during the holidays.
Holiday Movies Featuring LGBTQ+ Characters
Watching movies featuring LGBTQ+ characters is a great way to connect with your child. Seeing these types of characters represented on the big screen helps to validate their experiences, identities, and emotions. Click on the title to see the trailers to these heartwarming holiday movies.
Friends and Family Christmas (2023) – Overwhelmed by Christmas events and a surprise visit from her parents, photographer Dani asks lawyer Amelia for help. Pretending to date is the perfect solution until real feelings develop.
The Christmas House (2020) – Working through some difficult decisions, a mother and father summon their two grown sons home for the holidays.
Single All the Way (2021) – Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter convinces his best friend Nick to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship.
A Holiday I Do (2023) – When a small town, single mom falls for her BFF ex-husband’s beautiful and sophisticated wedding planner, she’ll need some Christmas magic to fix the chaos that ensues.
Happiest Season (2020) – Ready to propose at the holiday gathering, Abby runs into a problem when her partner Harper reveals that her family has no idea that they’re gay.
Under the Christmas Tree (2021) – Alma and Charlie cross paths with each other, when Charlie finds the perfect tree for the Maine Governor’s Holiday Celebration right in Alma’s back yard.
Let it Snow (2019) – When a snowstorm hits a small town on Christmas Eve, a group of high school seniors finds their friendships and love lives unexpectedly colliding.
A Jenkins Family Christmas (2021) – After the loss of a loved one, the Jenkins Family attempts to carry on with their Christmas traditions while learning to navigate a new normal. Baneatta’s gay son brings his boyfriend home for the holidays but is given an icy reception. Will Logan’s pushing Kenny to stand up to his overbearing mother bring them closer together or drive them apart?
The Family Stone (2005) – An uptight, liberal businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family’s annual Christmas celebration and finds that she’s a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life. In a side plot, Everett’s gay deaf brother reveals that he and his partner are planning to adopt.
We hope these resources will help you have a beautiful holiday season with your LGBTQ+ child. Focus on the overarching message of love this season and remember that it’s never too late to bring everyone home for the holidays.
All of us at SFA wish you a joyful and bright holiday season.