ABSTRACT
We aim, in this chapter, to detail our therapeutic approach to family therapy with sexual minority youth (Stone Fish & Harvey, 2005). Armative therapy for sexual minorities (e.g., Ritter & Terndrup, 2002) is an evolving practice that is being learned as we go by those of us practicing, teaching, and writing about it. To do it well one must question basic assumptions and one’s own dearly held beliefs about gender, sexuality, masculinity, and femininity and essentialist notions about identity, desire, sex, and romance. No small task. Sexual minority youth and their families arguably have the most to gain from armative theory and practice because they are in the midst of powerful individual identity integration as well as family developmental processes that may well set the tone for many years to come for individual and family functioning.
