Saturday, December 01, 2012

Sally Field: Prents Need to Embrace Their Gay Children

This blog has looked at the issue of homeless LGBT youth on a number of occasions.  Typically, these youth become homeless because of rejection by their families who have listened to the toxic message from the pulpit about gays and homophobia.  I was lucky and my parents embraced me when I came out - hence the scholarship I started in their honor that supports graduating LGBT high school seniors - but I have close friends who found themselves largely disowned by parents.  Oscar winning actress who has a gay son has a message to parents who may find themselves with a gay child.  The message?  Embrace them and be proud of them.  Here are excerpts from Gay Star News:

Sally Field guests on Oprah's Next Chapter Sunday (2 December) and talks to host Oprah Winfrey about being the mother of a gay son.

The acclaimed actress, winner of two Oscars and three Emmys, received the Human Rights Campaign's Ally for Equality Award last month in Washington DC and was introduced by her gay son, Sam Greisman.

Greisman, 25, is the youngest of Field's three sons and told the crowd that night that when he came out, his mother didn’t bat an eye and was, in fact, overjoyed. Field said after she took the stage that it has been 'one of the great privileges of my life' to be a part of her son's coming out process.

'It’s important to have a parent speak about raising a magnificent, proud, intelligent, funny, lovable, sexy gay son,' Field tells Winfrey. 'There are so many parents who are frightened of that and who don’t embrace their children as they struggle. Those children are struggling to embrace who they are, who nature — what nature intended them to be.'

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