http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/ Dear Abby is going to be at the PFLAG National Conference in Washington DC in October. She is being honored with an award for her constant promotion of PFLAG. We love her!
That mum makes me angry... Its just she only loves her son now because he's done something for her.. Ughhh...
Yeah, she seems really selfish. Had she not been driven to poverty, she never would have accepted her son.
Thats such a great story though for other people to read and see that gay people are not "bad" or "depraved" people. It is regrettable that the mother took so long to figure that out, but at least she changed her ways before it was too late. Its never to late to say "I was wrong and I'm sorry." Or maybe I'm just too forgiving, but life's too short to hold a grudge.
Exactly, and her son was forgiving and loving as well. Im glad there are people like becky and other mums/dads that love their kids enough to accept them for who they are. I know what you mean, but sometimes it is too late. Shes extremely lucky that her son was not at the point where he didn't love her anymore
What is important is she's come around now and she's speaking out and encouraging others to love and accept their gay children for who they are! This is important! Remember this is an elderly woman, probably the only thing she knew about sexual orientation she learned in church or not at all.
Becky is right, consider the generation gap, between the 74 year old lady and yourself. She was born in 1933, a good 32 years before the sexual revelation and gay liberation of the Mattachine Society protests and 36 years before the Stonewall Riots. Prior to these significant events, homosexuality was well removed from the mainstream of society. It is significant that she moved to accepting her son and his partner after the years of not accepting her son as a gay man. When we are dealing with our elder generations, we must remember the difference in the eras that we were brought up. That is why we must respect them, even when engaging in a discourse about homosexuality because they lived a very different life in an era that just did not accept homosexuals in the mainstream.
I think it is significant that she even moved in with them. She had to do some sort of accepting of them prior to making that live changing decision. I know the article seemed like it was her last choice, but not really. Some people who have gay children would rather live ANYWHERE but with their gay child. She made a change as she accepted their invitation. And ya know, I sometimes need a person to reach out to me before I am able to overcome a bias (which we all have) or stereotype I hold onto. So, I am glad she came around and made her statement "public". It encourages me, as my adoptive mother and father are in their early 70's. Maybe they will learn to accept me too.
Sometimes it's too late - like for me. I really don't want to have anything to do with my family. I loved them but they don't accept me and they never will. They don't do crazy things like trying to "cure" me, but they don't accept me and they make me uncomfortable. There are members of my family I don't love anymore because of this reason. (Sorry for the rant)
"Sexual orientation is not a measure of anyone's humanity or worth. " So true. and yet so disregarded by so many people. Her son must be truly loving to take in a mother who ignored him for 15 years. --- I remember reading a Dear Abby column in my local paper last year. I don't remember the column verbatim, but it was along these lines. Writer: Dear Abby, A gay couple has recently moved in down the street. As responsible parents, blah blah blah, what can we do to improve the quality of the neighborhood? (that last bit I do remember verbatim) She responded with, "You could move." I love her.
