Here is a letter written to the editor of the Grand Rapids, MI Herald Review by the mother of a gay son. The link was provided by the gay son, Jeff Olson, at his blog assembloge.
Editor:
For years, I couldn’t understand how homosexuality could possibly fit into God’s plan for this world. I trusted religious leaders to be experts on God’s Word and believed what they preached.
One day, I realized I had very little information about homosexuality, so I started reading and discovered gay people are not so different than the rest of us. For centuries, gay people have had to pretend to be straight in order to survive in this world. I also read about many young people who committed suicide and got involved in drug and alcohol abuse, because they felt afraid of being persecuted by society; many were disowned by their own families. God made each of us to be unique with different gifts; to deny who we are is to deny the purpose for which God created us.
During this time, my son had been struggling with pressures of life and often thought about suicide. He had many of the gay characteristics I was reading about. When I asked, he admitted to me that he is gay. He said he prayed constantly that God would change him so he wouldn’t “go to hell.” My son, who attended church regularly and prayed daily was saying the God he loved was going to send him to hell for being who he is.
Since “coming out”, my son has had his share of struggles, mostly due to the ignorance and judgmental attitudes of others. He was recently fired from his job as a police officer when they discovered his “alternative lifestyle”. But he no longer has to pretend to be something he’s not and I no longer worry about him harming himself; he knows I will always love him just the way he is. Even more importantly, he now knows God loves him and has not condemned him to hell.
There are so many misconceptions about homosexuality; make an effort to learn about it, and you will find that most people gay or straight seek very similar things in life……acceptance, love, happiness, and comfort in who we are. Two excellent films to watch are “Prayers for Bobby,” a true story, and “For The Bible Tells Me So”. The world will not end because of homosexuals; God is challenging us to see that love comes in many forms.
I challenge all parents to talk openly with your children (adolescent and young adult); let them know that NOTHING can change your love for them, even being gay. Please don’t repeat my mistake and assume a child of your’s could never be gay. Accept them as the wonderful and unique individuals they are. I could have been one of those parents that can only visit their child in the cemetery. I now believe that we are here to share God’s love as Jesus commanded us and leave the judging to God. May He open our eyes to our own sins and make us blind to the sins of others.
Amy Olson
Rural Hall, N.C.
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You realize it's LGBT, not GLBT. LGBT is the universally recognized acronym. It's sad the LGBT community can't even present a unified voice through our own terminology.
ReplyDeleteA most excellent and moving letter.
ReplyDeleteLaurie (a commentor): get over yourself! Stop losing yourself in semantics of whether it should be LGBT, GLBT or whatever. This is all rather more important than an acronymn. Either see (and help with) the bigger picture or get over your O.C.D. Or both. (Honestly!)
Nick
What a beautiful expression of the simplicity of God's love for us, and of the courage of a woman who challenged what, for her, was intuitive and decided to educate herself and identify with the common humanity of other people, most notably her own son. It's my prayer that all parents would be as open to their children as this woman has been to hers. God bless you Amy!
ReplyDeleteAmy Olsen,
ReplyDeleteGo tell it on the mountain, my dear woman! Parents cannot assume they won't have a gay child, nor let institutions that DON'T know that gay child, nor care to dictate the love parents and their gay children should have for each other.
Because you are right, a lot of gay children ARE in the cemetery and a lot of parents regret allowing our society's misrepresentation and prejudice order their days.
We have precious little time on this Earth in the best of times, why waste a second on it NOT loving the gay child and nurturing all the good things they can become?