I recently read the following story on the Huffington Post. I'm very proud of any grandmother or mother (like my mother-in-law) who stands up to pastors who think being gay is "broken."
If you wonder why so many gay teens commit suicide, it's because intolerance is being taught in SOME of our churches. It's not the schools that are as problematic as some of the conservative churches.
- Many churches DO teach love and acceptance of all people, and I applaud them. They're doing what Jesus instructed. However, some don't and this particular story involved a Pastor of a conservative church that outed a teenager to the entire congregation.
- Of course, I also blame the parents in this case, who were stupid and hateful enough to send a letter to their pastor asking "what to do." The right answer is: Love your son unconditionally, as Jesus would do. Not out him, berate him, hate him and cast him out because he's gay. - It's that kind of message that CAUSES teens to commit suicide (it happens every week in the U.S.- look it up).
SO- if you're in a church that has no love, understanding, compassion for a gay teen or gay adult, stand up against the pastor or whomever is spouting that vitriol. Do what Jesus would do, just like the grandmother in this story. - Rob
Grandmother Reportedly Takes A Stand To Support Gay Grandson
Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/grandmother-gay-grandson_n_2625648.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
The story of one courageous grandmother, who reportedly stood up to a church pastor who outed a young gay man during mass, is touching hearts across the Internet.
The story was first posted to social news site Reddit by user BMMiller10. Though the Redditor actually wrote about the incident several months ago, the post only recently rose to the top of the r/lgbt subreddit this week, according to Gay Star News.
The 20-year-old BMMiller10 writes that he wanted to post the story because it made him both happy, sad and proud of his grandmother, who took a public stand against the homophobic preachings of her longtime pastor. Apparently, she had been pretty conservative in the past, but her opinions of the LGBT community began to change after BMMiller10 came out to her.
Here's what happened in her church, according to BMMiller10:
A kid that attends the church and is in high school is gay, and apparently his parents wrote to the pastor asking what should be done about this. The pastor took the letter the parents wrote, and read it to the entire congregation, outed the kid, and told everyone that they would "work together to address this problem of homosexuality." My grandmother stood up at this point, said "There are a lot of problems here, and him being gay is not one of them." She apologized to the boy, then walked out the door. She just got back from turning in all the stuff she was responsible for for the church's yard sale and Bible School activities.The young man goes on to say that the pastor was furious at his grandmother, but that she held firm.
Queerty notes that while it may seem like a "small thing" to the Redditor, it's these "small things" that "lead to big changes and BMMiller10 is certainly lucky to have a nana who’ll not only stand up for him, but for others and what she believes in."
This story is in wonderful contrast the stories of other LGBT youth who have come out to family members only to face rejection. In September HuffPost blogger Mikey Rox wrote about such an experience in a blog post, titled "How I Lost My Grandmother to God and Being Gay."
