Lately my interests include a focus on the complicated issues confronting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) communities. Though laws in the United States are changing, underlying prejudices – some subtle, and some not-so-subtle, remain and affect a huge number of people. Roughly 10% of the general population is gay. For LGBT individuals, acquiring a sense emotional freedom, to which all people are entitled, may come with additional stress non-gay individuals don’t experience.

Everyone is faced with challenges arising from the condition of being human: maturing from childhood to old age, finding a gratifying partner, dealing with internal states of mind. Everyone at one time or another, experiences feelings of frustration, anger, hurt, sadness, loss, depression, boredom anxiety, and the like. Hopefully they resolve in a timely fashion. But for members of the 10% club and their families, the developmental process may be more difficult than it is for straight people.

The stresses associated with coming out, feeling different from peers, establishing self-pride, and later establishing a workplace identity, complicate the process. Though the mindset of the country is changing, the reality is that some prejudice still exists. Learning to accept the sexual reality in oneself or one’s child is a difficult but necessary task in order to maximize quality of life. It is a challenge that offers the promise of greater freedom to be oneself, to be able to love and to feel loved.