If a gay teen told you he was on Grindr, how would you react?

With campaigns such as It Gets Better and the Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights movement has continued to see the culture shift to be more accepting of the LGBTQ community. But for many teens, being gay provides its own unique set of challenges.

Like all teenagers, gay teens struggle to be comfortable in their own skin. They worry about pimples, their fashion, and their academic performance. And like most teenagers, they have the same desire to meet someone who makes their stomach churn with butterflies and to have that blissful, yet terrifying, first kiss.

The only real difference between a gay teen and a straight teen, is that finding another person they can relate to and experience those first romantic encounters with can be more challenging.

While online dating and hook-up apps are made for adults 18 and older, teenagers (straight and gay) are breaking the rules and joining the fun. For gay teens, apps such as Grindr, Tinder and Scruff have made it easier to find a partner they can relate to and experience those first romantic encounters with.

While these sites may be fun, exciting, and enticing, they can also be potentially dangerous. It's a complicated, sensitive issue to balance safety concerns with the desire and need to find someone to connect to. Joe Kort, Ph.D., has been speaking on the subject of gay counseling for 25 years. Now he wants to know...

"If a gay teen told you he was on Grindr, how would you react?"

Watch the video, and join the conversation in the comments below.

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Gain a better understanding of the current LGBTQ culture, sexual fluidity and trauma associated with growing up in the closet when you join Joe Kort for a CE seminar on DVD.

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