More Human. More Kind. | Parenting LGBTQ Kids, Unlearning Fear, Becoming More Human

My Raw Reaction to This Week's SCOTUS Rulings
A note before you press play.
This isn't a normal episode. There's no outline, no structure, no neat takeaways. It's me, talking through what I'm feeling after two days of Supreme Court decisions that I'm still trying to process myself.
If you've been doom-scrolling the news the way I have, you already know some of what's in here. The trans rights ruling. Birthright citizenship. Campaign finance. But this isn't a breakdown of the legal details. It's rage and grief and fear, unfiltered, because I didn't want to pretend everything is fine when it isn't.
I talk about the cowardice I see in how these decisions came down. I talk about Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, and how grateful I am for the way they've fought back in their dissents. And I talk about what it means to have this dropped the same week we're supposed to be celebrating 250 years of this country.
Mostly, I wanted you to know you're not alone in whatever you're feeling right now. Whether it's rage or numbness or something in between.
We're not giving up. We're not going anywhere.
Sending you love this week, whatever this week looks like for you.

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Talk to other parents who are experiencing burnout, too. Learn more about the Kindred Collective.
Loving your child through a hard season can quietly burn you out, and most allies never see it coming.
When a child comes out and struggles, parents often carry an invisible weight: vicarious stress, ambiguous grief, and a nervous system stuck on high alert. This episode names what compassion fatigue looks like for allies, and why it shows up differently depending on how you're wired.
In this episode, you'll learn how to:
Recognize the real signs of ally burnout, even when they don't look like "burnout"
Understand why you and your partner might be falling apart in completely different ways
Start recovering without waiting for the crisis to end first

Press play to find out why your exhaustion isn't a flaw, it's evidence of how much you love your kid.
Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!
Feeling uncertain or overwhelmed? Download my free guide to take you from Panic to Plan.
Join a private community with other parents and allies just like you!
Stay informed - receive my newsletter
Invite me to speak at your workshop or event
Read my book, Parenting with Pride.
Share More Human. More Kind. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Connect heather@heatherhester.net
Buy Me A Coffee
Watch on YouTube
Listen to *NEW* episodes every Tuesday and Friday!
At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and grow their capacity for courageous, compassionate connection.
For parents, allies, and those pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.
Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in, I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast in a heartfelt and empowering space where a mom and advocate offers practical guidance and education to parents and allies, fostering empathy, kindness, love, and strong boundaries while supporting LGBTQ teens and the diverse LGBTQ community—including gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, transgender, and queer individuals—through conversations about mental health, grief, gender identity, sexual orientation, human rights, social justice, parenting, parent support, and meaningful LGBTQ allyship and allyship in action.
Mentioned in this episode:
Contact Hester Painting & Decorating for a consultation! https://go.hesterdecorating.com/mhmk

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

What if the support you've been looking for was one conversation away, right where you work?
PFLAG National's Jamie Henkel joins the show to talk about Creating Pride in Families, a brand new resource library designed to help parents and caregivers of LGBTQ+ people build peer support networks inside their workplaces. Whether your company has a thriving ERG or you're starting from scratch, this episode will show you what's possible and how to get there.
Jamie also gets honest about what allyship actually requires: doing your own homework, speaking up even when it's imperfect, and understanding that silence is never the safe choice.
In this episode you'll learn how to:
Access PFLAG's Creating Pride in Families resource library and use it to start or strengthen a workplace parent group
Navigate the current DEI climate, including why some companies are actually increasing their investment right now
Find PFLAG support if there's no local chapter near you, including free virtual options and identity-specific communities
Take action as an ally without waiting until you feel ready or perfectly informed
Understand what your LGBTQ+ loved one actually needs from you, and why getting it wrong is still better than staying silent

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Creating Pride in Families resource library: https://pflag.org/press/creating-pride-in-families/
Find a local chapter or PFLAG Connects virtual meeting: pflag.org
PFLAG Connects Communities (free identity-specific virtual support groups)
PFLAG Academy Online (monthly webinar program for members and allies)
Free publications including Our Trans Loved Ones and Faith in Our Families: pflag.org

About Jamie Henkel:
Jamie Henkel (she/her) is the Vice President of Learning and Inclusion at PFLAG National, where she has worked since 2008. She oversees the development of PFLAG's Straight for Equality publications and learning sessions, serves as the architect of PFLAG Academy Online, and has spent her career building tools that help families and allies show up with more courage and less fear. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Connect with PFLAG National:
pflag.org
Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!
Feeling uncertain or overwhelmed? Download my free guide to take you from Panic to Plan.
Join a private community with other parents and allies just like you!
Stay informed - receive my newsletter
Invite me to speak at your workshop or event
Read my book, Parenting with Pride.
Share More Human. More Kind. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Connect heather@heatherhester.net
Buy Me A Coffee
Watch on YouTube
Listen to *NEW* episodes every Tuesday and Friday!
At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and grow their capacity for courageous, compassionate connection.
For parents, allies, and those pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.
Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in, I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast in a heartfelt and empowering space where a mom and advocate offers practical guidance and education to parents and allies, fostering empathy, kindness, love, and strong boundaries while supporting LGBTQ teens and the diverse LGBTQ community—including gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, transgender, and queer individuals—through conversations about mental health, grief, gender identity, sexual orientation, human rights, social justice, parenting, parent support, and meaningful LGBTQ allyship and allyship in action.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

Check out in depth essays, meditations, and tips and strategies on the More Human More Kind Substack!
Your kid changed how they describe themselves again, and some part of you is still waiting for the "real" answer.
This Friday Reset picks up where Tuesday left off. One small shift, one word, one line you can carry into the week for the moments when not-knowing feels like too much, and you need a gentler way to hold it.
In this episode you'll learn how to:
Use one simple word to make space for what's still unfolding
Respond to an unexpected identity shift without needing it to mean something right now
Carry a line that lets you love without needing to define

Action: Press play for this week's Butterfly Effect, a small shift toward more room, more ease, more yet.
Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!
Feeling uncertain or overwhelmed? Download my free guide to take you from Panic to Plan.
Join a private community with other parents and allies just like you!
Stay informed - receive my newsletter
Invite me to speak at your workshop or event
Read my book, Parenting with Pride.
Share More Human. More Kind. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Connect heather@heatherhester.net
Buy Me A Coffee
Watch on YouTube
Listen to *NEW* episodes every Tuesday and Friday!
At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and grow their capacity for courageous, compassionate connection.
For parents, allies, and those pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.
Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in, I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast in a heartfelt and empowering space where a mom and advocate offers practical guidance and education to parents and allies, fostering empathy, kindness, love, and strong boundaries while supporting LGBTQ teens and the diverse LGBTQ community—including gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, transgender, and queer individuals—through conversations about mental health, grief, gender identity, sexual orientation, human rights, social justice, parenting, parent support, and meaningful LGBTQ allyship and allyship in action.
Mentioned in this episode:
Contact Hester Painting & Decorating for a consultation! https://go.hesterdecorating.com/mhmk

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

Find connection with other parents in the Kindred Collective!
Your kid said something different about who they are than they did six months ago, and some part of you panicked.
For a lot of parents, fluidity feels like the hardest version of this journey, not because it's harder to love, but because it doesn't offer the relief of a finish line. This episode is about what happens when you stop needing one. It's about a conversation that changed how one parent saw not just their child, but everyone around them and what that kind of letting go can open up.
In this episode you'll learn how to:
Understand what fluidity actually means and the misconception that keeps tripping parents up
Shift from "so are you..." questions to ones that keep the door open
Recognize when your need for certainty is becoming your kid's job to manage

Action: Press play to find a little more room to breathe when the answers keep changing.
Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!
Feeling uncertain or overwhelmed? Download my free guide to take you from Panic to Plan.
Join a private community with other parents and allies just like you!
Stay informed - receive my newsletter
Invite me to speak at your workshop or event
Read my book, Parenting with Pride.
Share More Human. More Kind. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Connect heather@heatherhester.net
Buy Me A Coffee
Watch on YouTube
Listen to *NEW* episodes every Tuesday and Friday!
At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and grow their capacity for courageous, compassionate connection.
For parents, allies, and those pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.
Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in, I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast in a heartfelt and empowering space where a mom and advocate offers practical guidance and education to parents and allies, fostering empathy, kindness, love, and strong boundaries while supporting LGBTQ teens and the diverse LGBTQ community—including gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, transgender, and queer individuals—through conversations about mental health, grief, gender identity, sexual orientation, human rights, social justice, parenting, parent support, and meaningful LGBTQ allyship and allyship in action.
Mentioned in this episode:
Contact Hester Painting & Decorating for a consultation! https://go.hesterdecorating.com/mhmk

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy