I'm A Mormon Mom Taking A Stand For All The Gay Kids In Our Church
Diane Oviatt
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell which encloses your understanding"
Kahlil Gibran
When my son Ross came out to our family as gay eight years ago, my hurdle towards a major crisis of faith began. I had to re-examine everything I had previously thought and at times thought I knew with certainty to be true. There is nothing like seeing a precious child in despair over the knowledge that the plan of happiness he had been taught to strive for, which included the opportunity for temple marriage and parenthood, the plan that is the bedrock of our theology, would be impossible for him to attain as his authentic self. It upended my notions of truth, happiness, obedience, loyalty, and in fact all that I held dear, including my perception of the character of God. And I, for a long moment, wondered if I would be able to stay with a theology that had unintentionally made my child feel inherently unworthy of God's choicest blessings.
Ross began having panic attacks in February of 2007, his senior year of high school, shortly after being offered a scholarship to BYU and the nagging fear that had been encroaching on my sense of well-being began to loom larger. My suspicions were confirmed when I sat him down at the kitchen table one warm June night that year, while his brother and father were away at scout camp.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-oviatt/mormon-mom-gay-kid_b_7292302.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
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