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Help LGBTQ+ children browse safely online

Learn how you can help LGBTQ+ children and young people browse the internet safely, with advice from experts.

Teenager on laptop

Quick safety tips

Help make browsing the internet a safer experience for your LGBTQ+ child with these top safety tips.

Set parental controls

Manage the sites your child can visit and what they can do on these sites by setting parental controls on the devices and platforms they use.

Check-in regularly

Engage in regular discussions with your child about what they do online and what content is appropriate for them.

Practise critical thinking

Help your child navigate misleading information online by developing their critical thinking skills as they browse online.

Inside this guide

Challenges for LGBTQ+ children

While LGBTQ+ children and young people experience many benefits online, there are also risks. However, when it comes to balancing risks with benefits, LGBTQ+ children face unique challenges.

  • Children exploring their identity can feel isolated and cut-off if access to the internet is taken away.
  • Their community, culture or religion might place expectations on them, which can negatively impact their wellbeing. They might withdraw into the online world where they feel more supported.
  • Content about LGBTQ+ communities can often be misleading or harmful, which can make finding the right support difficult.

Benefits and risks for LGBTQ+ children

The internet is incredibly important for LGBTQ+ children and young people to connect with who they are and explore this side of their identity.

They are at no greater risk than any other children or young person when using the internet for browsing. However, some of their browsing behaviour might lead to potential risks of harm.

Explore the benefits and risks of browsing online to help manage your child’s online safety.

Benefits of browsing online

LGBTQ+ positivity

Children can access LGBTQ+ websites and news outlets that report on many positive news stories relating to the community, which they might not see in the regular news cycle.

Finding support

LGBTQ+ children can more easily access supportive online spaces or guidance to navigate early relationships, come out to friends or family and understand more about themselves.

Learning more

With a world of information at their fingertips, LGBTQ+ children can learn about anything that interests them without fear of judgement offline.

Exploring interests

Children can find people with similar experiences or interests that can support their understanding of themselves beyond their LGBTQ+ identity.

Risks of browsing online

When browsing online, LGBTQ+ children and young people are likely to face content and conduct risks.

Content risks

Content can look like videos, images or text across the digital space. The following risks could harm LGBTQ+ children in particular as they browse online.

Whilst it is important for your child to engage with current affairs, most young people do this through social media. Unfortunately, your child might come across suggested content featuring anti-LGBTQ+ stories.

The design of social media apps make it easy to scroll for hours. ‘Doomscrolling’ is a phenomenon where a user might scroll negative content for hours. An LGBTQ+ young person might engage in large amounts of such content this way.

This kind of content will likely shape a child’s feelings about themselves if left unchecked.

There is plenty of great information online. However, children and young people might struggle to understand which information is trustworthy.

LGBTQ+ youth, especially those lacking a community offline, often turn to the internet for answers, increasing their risk of encountering harmful content.

Conduct risks

Conduct risks are the actions an LGBTQ+ child could take online, such as visiting certain sites or making negative comments.

Due to a lack of LGBTQ+ sex education in schools, many children and teens in the community turn to the internet for information about sex and relationships.

Unfortunately, this leaves the open to misunderstanding what makes a healthy relationship. Pornography can also reinforce harmful gender stereotypes towards sex.

Pornographic content can negatively impact their views of sex, future relationships, body image and self-esteem.

Despite the UK banning conversion therapy, harmful information about it persists online.

LGBTQ+ youth, especially those who face pushback from their immediate community, might seek out these dangerous resources as a so-called ‘cure’ for their sexuality.

These ‘therapies’ promote harmful practises to change a young person’s sexual orientation or identity. People who go through these processes often face depression, anxiety and other mental health impacts. Some might practise self-harm as a result of conversion therapy.

How to prevent potential harm

Browsing online can help LGBTQ+ explore their identity and sexuality, and find communities where they feel like they belong and are accepted for who they are.

However, there is also risk, so it’s important to take preventative action to limit harm. Explore actions to take and conversations to have with an LGBTQ+ child.

Actions to take

Use parental controls

To prevent your child from encountering pornography online, use parental controls across devices, apps and platforms. You can limit content by age and block specific websites that could negatively impact their wellbeing.

Find friendly platforms

With your child, explore online communities and websites which are supportive of their LGBTQ+ identity. This will encourage them to explore their identity and connect with others in a safe space, free from potential hate, abuse or misinformation.

Regularly check-in

One of the best ways to protect your child is to be present and open. Let them know you’re available to discuss what they see online without judgement. Focus on guiding them and building healthy habits, rather than punishing them for mistakes.

Encourage breaks

While your child might find connection and many benefits online, you should also encourage them to find offline support. Enroll them in groups or activities that allow them to interact with others and find support offline to create a balanced worldview and relationship with technology.

Conversations to have

It is important to remember that the internet is a powerful and incredibly useful tool for young people, despite the dangers.

Discussing some of the potential areas of risk is important. It can help ensure you’re on the same page while showing them that you’re here to support them.

Here are some topics to explore together.

While pornography might feel awkward to talk about (for both of you), it’s important to discuss in an age-appropriate way. Early conversations are best to give children the tools to minimise harm.

  • Minimise the awkwardness. This is usually easier said than done. However, using direct language, including appropriate terminology, is important. The more confident you appear, the less shy and awkward your child will feel.
  • Avoid accusations. Do not accuse them of seeking out pornography. Rather, ask them what they’ve seen and reaffirm that curiosity is natural. Ask them their thoughts on the impacts of pornography on others, rather than putting them at the centre of scenarios.
  • Reassure them. Let them know that they’re not in trouble for seeking out pornography. However, viewing the content can lead to misconceptions about identity, relationships and sex. Explain that you don’t want them misinformed, so it’s better to discuss these things together.
  • Ask questions. Try to understand why they want to access porn and see if there are safer alternatives. For example, if your child is curious about sex, provide safer more factual websites as resources. Or, if they feel pressured by peers, discuss the importance of setting boundaries for themselves and coming to you if someone is making them feel uncomfortable.

Fake news can be difficult for anyone to navigate, especially for LGBTQ+ groups. This is because they are often the subject of fake news, and it can leave them and those in their lives vulnerable to believing lies about themselves or their loved ones.

  • Educate yourself. Make sure you know how to spot fake news, and teach them the skills to do the same.
  • Discuss what they see online. Talk about the kinds of things they browse online, and try to understand what problems they might be trying to solve with it.
  • Share reliable sources. Help them identify reliable sources of support and advice, and show them where to find these. Ditch the Label forums or Childline message boards can be safe spaces to explore these issues with others.

How to deal with harmful issues

If your child does experience a harm while browsing online, there are things you can do to help them deal with it:

  1. Report content. If your child comes across content which they think could harm others, encourage them to report it. Reporting is anonymous, and protects others from having to view the harmful content. Review how to do this in their favourite platforms.
  2. Escalate it. Encourage your child to tell you about hateful or otherwise harmful content they see online. In some cases, this content could break the law. In that case, you need to report it to the police. You can report child exploitation with CEOP and scams with Action Fraud.
  3. Encourage breaks from harmful platforms. If your child regularly encounters harm on a certain platform, encourage them to step away. Or, you can help them curate their social feeds. Remember that they might benefit from these platforms as well, so you’ll need to discuss the right steps with them.

Activities to do with your LGBTQ+ child

Help your child learn how to browse safely online with these activities that you can do together.

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Get personalised advice and ongoing support

The first step to ensure your child’s online safety is getting the right guidance. We’ve made it easy with our ‘My Family’s Digital Toolkit.’