How I Rpond When My Son Told Me He Is Gay

Contents:

• MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?
• THIS IS HOW I FELT WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY
• GAY MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS: IS THERE A SPECIAL CLOSENS?
• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
• MY SON TOLD FRIENDS HE’S GAY. HE TELLS ME HE WAS JOKG.

MY SON MIGHT BE GAY. WHAT SHOULD I SAY TO HIM?

A g-of-age gay narrative, replete wh a mil number about Madge’s first csh (on the Pied Piper).

THIS IS HOW I FELT WHEN MY SON TOLD ME HE WAS GAY

Dave, I have a 17-year-old son, and I am fairly sure he is gay.

GAY MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS: IS THERE A SPECIAL CLOSENS?

I psed on our lol PBS affiliate, where a huge choir was sgg, and after a few sends I realized was the Gay Men's Chos of some cy or another dog a fundraisg ncert. At this time my life, I was 99 percent certa I was gay, though nowhere near ready to sprg on my parents. We had no gay people our liv back then, no way to gge my fay's level of tolerance.

We had no gay people our liv back then, no way to gge my fay's level of watched as they livered a rendn of what I remember as "Somewhere Over the Rabow, " bee eher they or my memory are unfivably basic.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

Stirrg and brave and subversive, g as did a time before marriage equaly was on the map, a time when you only saw gay people on the news. Good on you for not pot-blank askg your son whether he's gay. It means one simple, pable thg: Once you have told your dad you're gay, there is no gog back.

Right now, he has to be secretive, not bee he's gay, but bee he's 17. I'd love to say that you should do a big, showy "Hey, I sure do like those gay people" at the dner table. I wish were as simple and CBS-smy as ve the gay guy om work to fay bowlg night.

If you’d like to jo the Fom, drop a le at do feel like to fd out that your son is gay? So my 19-year-old son told me he is gay last night. He don’t “act gay, ” but ’s not a huge leap to image him beg still put me to shock.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

”“Don’t get stuck on thkg about the mechanics of gay sex. Bee I’m obvly the person who is gog to have trouble unrstandg that he’s gay.

Personally, as a gay man, there’s also somethg wonrful about seeg the word ‘Queer’ emblazoned so proudly above the venerable Garrick Theatre. First, my wife will be unhappy to learn our son is gay.

For help alg wh all this, ntact PFLAG, which giv valuable support to parents wh gay children. Perhaps is not surprisg that mothers and their gay sons often scribe their relatnships as close. However, beg gay might be a factor that mak some mothers and sons even closer.

MY SON TOLD FRIENDS HE’S GAY. HE TELLS ME HE WAS JOKG.

This was found to be te for many of the mothers and sons I terviewed for the study scribed the book: Comg Out, Comg Home: Helpg Fai Adjt to a Gay or Lbian Child ().

Neverthels, this closens uld have a downsi, at least temporarily, as many mothers ially blame themselv and the close relatnships for their sons' homosexualy. So, perhaps is not pletely surprisg that once they learned their sons were gay, some of the mothers I terviewed felt that they had done somethg to damage them.

The fact is that I am the mother and I was told growg up that men bee gay bee their mothers are too motherg. For a long time, the psychiatric profsn blamed overly close maternal relatnships for g the "disease" of male homosexualy. Even though rearch sce the 1950's has bunked , this theory persists people's mds and rears s ugly head for mothers when they ially learn their sons are gay.