Youth Guide

Leadership & wellness for all youth

Handling Your Finances As a Gay Teenager

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Going to college or even just going out into the real world can be scary for any teenager, but there are other issues at stake when you are a gay teen. Let’s face it — people are indeed going to look at you differently. You will need to make sure that you really go out of your way to ensure that you take care of things in a way that makes sense for your life and no one else’s. You don’t want to find that you can’t get into the apartment that you want or even the job you want because you don’t have money.

Thinking about your finances is something that matters because no one else will do it for you. In fact, a lot of people will assume that they can take advantage of you if you don’t have a specific plan — don’t give into this at all!

If you want to make sure that you are financially stable to the best of your ability, you’ll need to make sure that you build a plan that’s going to help you get that done. The last thing that you want to do is find that you have no plan and you don’t know of anyone that can actually. help you do that.

Here’s what you need to know.

If you’re going to be with someone, you should realize that they have no legal right to your money. Even if they say that they want to be with you and become domestic partners, that doesn’t mean that your money is suddenly their money. This is something that happens sometimes in the gay community, but it doesn’t have to happen to you.

If you are going to live with someone, you need to make sure that all of your expectations and guidelines are spelled out. If you try to just stick to the honor system, you will eventually find someone that will hurt you. That’s not a good thing at all, and you need to make sure that you focus on the bigger picture. No one is going to fight harder for you than, well, YOU!

When you don’t have any credit but you have a job, you shouldn’t be surprised to find that you will indeed find many credit offers circling around you. That’s not to say that they aren’t a good thing to check out. In case of an emergency, credit is a decent source to tap. It’s obviously not the best source to tap but it can be a good hedge in a hurry. It’s often better than payday loans, because the interest rate is a lot lower.

So, where do you go from here? Get a pen and paper and really write out the things that you want. Do you want a new car? Do you want a house? When do you want these things? The more detailed that you are, the more likely it is that you’re going to get the things that you want. There’s no reason in the world to think that you have to go without the things that matter to you — good luck out there and build the financial plan that meets YOUR needs!

A Gay Retreat Makes a Great Vacation Every Time!

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Are you thinking about trying to travel anytime soon? You might have some vacation time coming up, and being around your regular circle of friends just might not be very appealing. You just have to figure out where to go in order to really have a good time.

When you’re a young gay teen, you might feel that your options for meeting like minded people are very limited. However, the truth is that you just need to make sure that you’re keeping your options open rather than feeling like it’s impossible to get things done. That’s just going to make you frustrated, and who really wants to be frustrated like that? You just need to figure out what you want to do, how you want to do it, and where you want to go. This guide covers those things for you quite well.

First and foremost, you should think about going to a gay retreat, or another themed vacation that’s aimed at meeting other gay people roughly your age. Some might recommend a vacation in the Caribbean for a week or two. There are small cruises that you can take you to neighboring islands where you can enjoy an afternoon of peace and relaxation. If you like to be surrounded by people, there are nightclubs that stay open late and delectable five star restaurants that you can dine at. If you want to meet older adults and you’re already at the age of majority, then that’s not a problem — but tread carefully! You’re going through a very different time of your life than someone that’s older, and you need to make sure that you’re giving yourself time to properly heal and tend to your own life before you take that step.

Still, there are plenty of meetup groups that also plan out vacations. If you’re already meeting up regularly with other gay youth, you might just want to plan a vacation together. It’s going to make it easier to bond because you’re not going to have to try to fight the stress and strain of everyday life.

If you’re going to coordinate the travel details, you need to put out different places for the other people to vote on. If you just try to pick a location, you’re going to find people that feel like you’re trampling on their feelings and right to voice their option. Once you get these details out of the way you’ll be able to go ahead and start looking at group accommodations.

If everyone is at least 18, this makes the trip planning a lot easier. Otherwise you’ll have to get guardians involved and it’s a lot of hard planning that way. But once you’re an adult the world is pretty much open to you unless you’re going somewhere as someone 18 and they want someone at least 21 years of age. But there are ways to get things done, you just need to figure out all of your options.

The best thing that you can do is make sure that you look at all of your hard costs to really ensure that you’ve got the costs calculated properly. If someone doesn’t give you the money for the trip, you will want to be able to cancel their spot on the vacation list. Otherwise you’ll end up having to pay for someone that’s not even coming on the trip.

What else can you do from here? Well, you have other options too — group transportation rates don’t have to be expensive and you might want to have transportation scheduled ahead of time depending on where you go.

From here, the rest is up to you. There’s nothing that says that you just have to lay around on the beach or anything. Figure out what the group wants to do as a whole and see if you can set things up.

These tips are geared for people that want to take charge, but if that’s not you …don’t sweat it! You can always delegate the trip planning to someone else and just encourage them with these tips. It’s completely up to you!

Bringing Home Your Gay Partner To Your Parents Without Stress

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Are you happily in a relationship and you really want to make sure that you’re going to be able to have the best time possible? No problem! There are plenty of gay couples that enjoy deep and meaningful relationships, just like there are many single people that enjoy deep and meaningful relationships. But what about when you want to reach out and talk to your parents about all of this? You might even want to bring your new gay partner home to meet your parents if things are sufficiently serious enough.

Instead of panicking and wondering and even worrying, you will need to make sure that you can do whatever it is that you need to do in order to get things off the ground. That’s really the only way that you’re going to have a good thing, when you think about it. It would be a lot smarter to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing deep down that you can truly share every facet of your life with your parents.

However, the last thing that you want to do is just surprise them with it. It’s time to go through a few steps in order to get what you’re looking for.

First and foremost, you will want to make sure that you go ahead and have the conversation first. Just showing up with your gay partner isn’t going to do you any favors. Your family may feel like you’re trying to force your new lifestyle on them. If you haven’t come out yet to them, that’s the first thing you need to do. You also want to make it clear that this person that you’re with is someone that you’re pretty serious about, and you want your family to share in your happiness.

Bringing them over doesn’t have to be a formal thing — you don’t have to pull out all of the stops. In fact, it’s better for your partner to actually see your family relaxed and comfortable. They’re going to be nervous because you have never brought anyone of the same sex home as a partner, but that’s okay. The nervousness will fade once they see how you and your partner interact.

You want to make sure that you respect the boundaries of your family. For the first meeting, keep things the same way you would if you were bringing home a member of the opposite sex home. Do your parents want to see you making out with someone? No. Do they want to see that you’re happy, safe, and ready to take on life with someone? Absolutely.

And relationships do ebb and flow — your partner might not be ready to introduce you to their parents, or come over your house to meet your family. This is obviously a step that you’ll want to take when you’re really interested in someone. That’s the best way to go about it, if you ask us!

Gay Meetups For Teens – The Perfect Way to Connect!

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Now that you’ve accepted the fact that being gay is part of the life you want to lead, you will need to find kindred spirits. The worst thing that you can do is think that there’s no on out there that’s just like you. Even though people still do have a problem with GLBT people, their personal issues aren’t your personal issues. As long as you love yourself, what more do you honestly need? You just need to be willing to push forward and do the things that you know matter to you — the rest will fall into place, we promise!

So let’s talk about a subject that’s near and dear to our hearts: the gay meetup. Some people dismiss it and say that people don’t need specific little meetups in order to feel connected. We disagree — it’s very important to feel like you’re in a safe and secure environment where you can just be yourself. And let’s face it — being gay is a deep part of your lifestyle. So you will definitely want to make sure that you’re going to be able to enjoy life to the fullest.

Depending on where you live, there are actually a lot more gay meetups than you think. This is because people really do want to find others that have the same interests. Even if you’re not looking for a relationship, there’s never a bad time to make new gay friends. You’ll need them when it’s really time to get out of your comfort zone and take life to the next level. Gay networking is a powerful tool for your career as well. You don’t want to find that you haven’t been able to really connect with people as much as you would like. That just wouldn’t be right!

So from here, how do you actually find those meetups? Well, if you’re already reading things online you’ll actually find that the Internet is a great source to find out where people are hanging out that share the same lifestyle as you.

That’s what this is, honestly — it’s a lifestyle that’s designed for maximum benefit on your part. The more work that you can do in terms of getting to know people, the happier you will feel.

We know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have a single kindred soul in the entire world. That’s why we’re pushing the gay meetup thing so much — you really do need to make that connection.

Take care of yourself first, and everything else will flow around you!

Do You Really Have To Admit You’re Gay to Your Doctor

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As you begin accepting the fact that gay life is part of YOUR life, there are a lot of different questions that come up. However one of the top questions that you might be wondering right now is simple: who needs to know? If you’re not comfortable with coming out to everyone, that’s fine. In time, you’ll be more comfortable. You can come out and stand proud as a gay teen. But there are some people that you will need to come out to first, in order to protect your health.

One of the top people that you need to talk with before anyone else would definitely have to be a doctor. Your doctor will need to know about your sexual orientation for many reasons. Let’s cover a few of those reasons.

The biggest thing that you have to realize is that your doctor cannot give you proper health care if they don’t know anything about your lifestyle. The advice that they give someone that isn’t gay may be different than what they give for you. They may be interested in running more tests if you’re sexually active, because STDs can and still do happen in the gay community. You want to always make sure that you’re protected when you engage in sexual activity.

The doctor does need to know, and they also need to know how many partners you’ve had in the past, as well as any partner or partners that you’re having right now. These aren’t questions that are meant to embarrass you in any way shape or form.

You have to think about it from their perspective. The doctor has a job to do, and that job is to protect your health. To be honest, you are probably not the only gay teen that they know about.

If you haven’t come out to your parents, you don’t have to worry about the doctor telling your parents that you’re gay. As long as you are engaging in sexual activity with people your own age (to avoid any type of conflict with someone that is an adult when you’re not), you will not have to worry about your privacy being violated.

What is said between you and your doctor is actually protected, and your doctor can get in trouble for saying anything to anyone — including your parents. If it’s an issue, you may want to discuss this with your doctor as well. They will go out of their way to make sure that your parents don’t harm you just because they find out something different about you.

Everyone tends to come out in their own time. But coming out to your doctor is something that you need to do for your health — nothing more and nothing less than that!