The psychological damage endured by America's youth is at times—irreversible. As parents, if you feel comfortable with kicking your child out of the house because of who they love—just to appease your fanatical religosity, you are unfit to care for any human being. Your rights of parenthood should be revoked!
Statistical source: UCLA- Williams Institute School of Law
Amen! As in, I completely agree. Love is love and the limitations of things like religion, should not attempt to be put on it.
I'll never understand it. I don't have kids, but if I had any, I don't care what sex they identify with or who they want to date or feel compelled to date. As long as the person, be it man/woman/transgender/black/white/asian/latino etc., treats them right and makes them happy. I just don't get the mentality that makes some people disown their kids that have their own preferences or ingrained feelings. If they aren't hurting anyone then so what? I have two major rules with some other minor nuances. 1. Clean up after yourself 2. Don't burn the house down. If you can do that and not be violent with me or anyone else or harm anyone in the house, what do I give a shit about the rest?
My nephew (now 50 something yrs old), whom I dearly love, is a good person, but he married a Mormon woman many, many years back and joined the LDS church, i.e., became one; though I suspect not a deeply, deeply committed one. He found out a few years back that his only son is gay, and to his credit, he told the kid that it made absolutely no difference to him whatsoever, that of course he still loves him.
Another interesting aspect to this is that my sister, his mother, is agnostic/atheistic leaning, and though she's not crazy about him being a Mormon, he's still her son and she retains fully a mother's love for him.
It is horrible. I have seen both types, even one woman leaving her husband and moving in with her son and partner. She simply could not reject him as her controlling husband and church had. Her son died of Aids, contracted in the early days before he met his partner and after his death, his partner still cares finanicially for her as he considers her his mother.
How a parent can put a religious teaching above their own child even the practice of witholding affection, medical care or rejection due to that same religious mumble jumble is beyond any sane perspective.
@Sapio_Ink And yet there are still those who want to tell people it's okay, he didn't mean it. [bigthink.com]
I hear people talking about their parents kicking them out and just don’t understand how they could do that to their kids.
My late partner's youngest son was in college and we went to visit him. He told her, mom I have 2 things to tell you: one I am quitting school and 2 I am gay. She looked at him in shock and said "you're quitting school?" he said did you hear what I said and she said yes you're quitting school and I don't care about the other thing. He actually cried. However, his father heard about this and told his former wife, I knew you were fooling around because no son of mine would be gay! Neither speaks to the other to this day.
I wonder which would be worse coming out as gay or atheist?
So gayness comes from the mother fooling around? That's a novel new theory.
@Sapio_Ink That comment has been posted along with a video on this site. It came from Freedom From Religion Foundation.
@mordant He suggested the gay genes came from another man. The guy was obsessed with her having an affair. It was simply extreme low self-esteem.
Although my parents were fundamentalists, I never doubted their unconditional love for me and my three older brothers. I never had to test the theory -- they were dead before they noticed my apostasy -- but I have zero doubt they would not reject me even symbolically for rejecting my faith of origin. I am equally certain I could have confided that I was LGBTQ, if I were, and it would have made no difference to their acceptance of and caring about and interest in me. It would have challenged and concerned them, sure, but it would never change their love for me. This I know.
This is one of the greatest contributions they made to my life. I've seen firsthand the results of parents rejecting or even merely neglecting their children over some trivial non-conformity. It doesn't even require religion. My wife grew up with epic levels of shame and rejection and her parents were not even religious. Her mother died when she was very young and her faither remarried twice, to a woman that was devoid of maternal instinct and then to a woman who was a borderline personality who actually saw my wife as a rival for her husband's affection. She and her siblings were pushed aside in favor of the stepchildren and could never win their way back to their father, and it has severely affected all of them emotionally.
So while I'm sure "rejection based on religion" or religious ideology is the most common explanation, it is not the only one. First and foremost, such people are horrible parents; the dysfunctional ideology or the dysfunctional spouse are just excuses. It is, at bottom, weak, lazy and irresponsible parenting, that should never hide behind a person or ideology for justification.
Totally agree. My parents were bigoted vs my friends in high school so i ran away.
You were brave; I hope you didn't suffer for it.
I think I learned a loot-it opened my 18 yr old eyes for sure.
I've had some gay and trans kids stay on my couch because their parents were being a-holes. My mother was a religious fundamentalist. Can't stand them.
Good on you!
People are fucking crazy especially as we have a huge complex brain.
I couldn't agree more. The church in which I grew up taught parents that it was better to put their children on the street than to support a sinful lifestyle. Parents believe/d that they were making a heart wrenching choice to put their child's immortal soul above their temporary, mortal existance on earth. They believe they are good parents making tough choices. It's sick.