Loving Understanding

Many youth, including those who are LGBTQIA, have been bullied, excluded, and made to feel unloved. Sometimes this has been unintentional, but too often it is those closest who inflict the deepest emotional wounds. From the talk Protect the Children given in the October 2012 General Conference.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks
"Parents or other caregivers or teachers or peers who demean, bully, or humiliate children or youth can inflict harm more permanent than physical injury. Making a child or youth feel worthless, unloved, or unwanted can inflict serious and long-lasting injury on his or her emotional well-being and development. Young people struggling with any exceptional condition, including same-gender attraction, are particularly vulnerable and need loving understanding—not bullying or ostracism. With the help of the Lord, we can repent and change and be more loving and helpful to children—our own and those around us."