A Teen’s Brave Response to “I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay”

[HillWilliam]

Full Article

It's a bit of a long read, but do read it through.

I received the following email today in response to my post I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay. I had decided a couple months ago that it was time to let the whole thing rest, but this response was so powerful, I couldn’t not share it with you all. It was from a woman who simply called herself, “One proud mom.”

Hello Mr. Pearce,

I am the Christian mother of a 15 year old teenage boy and about a month ago he came home from school with a copy of your article “I’m Christian, unless you’re gay”. The teacher gave his class a homework assignment to read it and write a 500 word essay about “what it meant to them”.

He came home and showed me your article and asked me what I thought about it. I read just the title and became furious at his teacher and at you (even though I know you had nothing to do with her handing out the assignment). Anyway, I confiscated it from him and told him he wasn’t to do anything with it till I had a chance to read it first.

Full article at the link above.

[peacebird]

1. Wow. Just wow.

Congrats to christian mom for being able to see her child was still worth love, seeing beyond her religions bias.

Now if only we can change the conversation somthat the religious right recognize that all people deserve to be treated as equals.

[William769]

2. I have so much admiration for that kid for the courage he has shown.

Now this next part some people maybe all people are not going to like what I have to say.

I'm glad the mother finally saw the light, but thats all she's getting from me. She would still be the same hurtful bigoted person today if it had not been for her son. She gets nothing from me.

May she go through the rest of her life trying to redeem herself. And I hope she has nightmares of what her son might have done if he chose another path to end his pain & suffering.

[Plantaganet]

8. Exactly what I thought.

Props to the kid. He's got more courage than should reasonably be expected of anyone that age.

But the Mom? Yikes. Hopefully he can get away from her nonsense before too long.

[charstar2414]

9. Hmmm not in the spirit of the LGBT community is it?

This response is a little harsh don't you think? I understand she was a small minded christian woman but she finally saw the light shouldn't we celebrate the fact that she FINALLY came around instead of wishing nothing but bad karma on her? I promise she is suffering enough without your hateful words to spur it on.

In the spirit of the LGBT community I hope she continues to grow and becomes a fixture in the community as a loving mother who wants to help her son be the best he can be.

[William769]

10. It's in the spirit of how I feel when shit like this happens.

If that had not been her son, she would still be a bigoted asshole. Although it's nice she changed because of her son what about all the others ones out there that are not affected by a family member?

To many kids have committed suicide because of people like this. So no she won't get no sympathy from me.

[Plantaganet]

12. n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. what exactly is the "spirit" of the lgbt community?

[yardwork]

13. Welcome to DU! Could you tell us a little more about yourself?

[Rowdyboy]

3. The tears in my eyes aren't unusual....

They come every time I read one of these stories about kids with the guts to be honest. It took me thirty-five years to tell my family. I wish I'd had his strength and insight.

[WillParkinson]

4. Proud to be Rec #10...

That was powerful stuff.

[MarianJack]

5. I'm proud to be lucky 13!

Powerful post about loving your child REGARDLESS. I heard someone once say that you're only as happy as your least happy child. I'm glad to see that this mom and son are now very happy.

When I was in my teens, I had a second cousin who was gay. This was the 70s when there wasn't as much acceptance of the LGBT community as there is today (believe it or not). My cousin's husband, ala brit hume, literally badgered his son into suicide. I wonder if he spent the rest of his life wondering if a son in a coffin was really better that a son who loves another man.

My son is 12. He certainly seems to be heterosexual. If he were gay my wife and I would love him every bit as much. Maybe even more because he'd then get grief for both his race and his sexual orientation. We would certainly want to see that he was with someone who would love him when the day came that we were no longer here.

BTW, several months ago, when we were watching an episode of "Glee" on Netflix, the character Kurt ( a gay young man) was being bullied by the shit head jocks. We told him that we had better NEVER hear of HIM acting in this manner toward a gay person. He shared with us that one of his friends had come out to him. He told that friend that it didn't matter to him because he was such a good friend. You could have knocked my wife and I over with a feather because we were so proud. We were proud not only because he supports his friend but because doing so was just so automatic for him that he didn't see a need to tell mom and dad about it.

The boys were in 5th grade at the time. Without revealing the boy's name, I spoke to the Principal. I told her about this and encouraged her to be on the lookout for any potential schoolyard gay bashers. I don't think that there have been any and my son KNOWS that if there is, mom and I want to know about it so we can stand in support of the victim.

This was WAY longer than I intended. Thank you for reading. It's my 2 cents and quite possibly overpriced at that!

PEACE!

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Not so long. Great letter and story. I liked the p.s. the best:

"If you think you can’t make a difference, you are wrong. If you think you are too old or too young to make change happen, you are wrong. If you think that somebody else will do it first, you are wrong. I think this letter is proof enough of that."

[2labslib]

7. I wish I could rec this 100 times.

K&R

Thanks for sharing.