What if you had a gay son?
Category:
LGBT
I met with a young man who is same-sex attracted and Mormon. The young man spoke in great deal about his struggle to live with both his faith and his sexuality. He said, "Sometimes I just want to move to California and try a different lifestyle." He paused, "But that's not me. I still hold the same values and beliefs-- the ones I was taught in the LDS Church." He said, "I want to get married to a woman and have a family with her. I wish I were attracted to women the way I am attracted to men." I asked, "If you had a gay son, what would you tell him?" He replied, "I would support him and love him. I would want him to be himself."
Every time I have seen families embrace and accept their homosexual family members, nothing bad had happened! The association has always been positive and loving, caring "family" experience has only grown and flourished. They are available to each other for that family support that is so valued in our culture. Families are strengthened not weakened. When families have rejected their homosexual family members it has not turned out well, even when that rejection was done 'lovingly.' You know, love the sinner...hate the sin? I've known homosexuals rejected by their families who looked for acceptance in all the wrong places. Bright, promising lives lost to drugs, disease, and death. I've seen families who reject those they should love, depriving themselves of that valuable relationship. ― Carol Lynn Pearson, No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones
It always saddens me when people live their lives the way that they think others want them to live, instead of what comes naturally to them.