Since it provides little context about the way most parents do respond, or some of the most damaging ways, the context is somewhat lacking. It also doesn't say much about how most parents come by the destructive attitudes. I doubt much of it is from doctors--though they might be good sources for better information.

I wish the story went into a bit more depth on the study mechanics, and provided expert opinions other than those provided by the story's authors and fans. It will be interesting to see if others can replicate this study. Here is the abstract of the article from "Pediatrics" referenced in the story (a user friendly link is not available so I'm posting the entire abstract here): Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults Caitlin Ryan, PhD, ACSWa, David Huebner, PhD, MPHb, Rafael M. Diaz, PhDa and Jorge Sanchez, BAa a César E. Chávez Institute, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California b Department of Psychology, University of ... More »

the abstract appears to show perhaps expected results of the study; children who experience themselves as different from their peers (accurately or not) in a variety of ways, not only gay, are likely to be effected as adults by whether or not their parents are reassuring, providing security /support/ understanding of the child's feelings, altho this particular difference may feel more extreme. it would be interesting to see how study parents react to other children's sexual feelings and if there were a difference. more depth in the study would have been helpful.

Real science to back up or refute conventional wisdom is always news.

Interesting report on a key study about parental attitudes towards their gay children. Well-written and thoughtful. Additional sources, quotations and context needed to round out the piece -- how about quotations from family members, additional pediatricians, school counselors?