Dear Pnce: My dghter may be gay, but I hope not.

Contents:

• ‘I HAVE A WONRFUL DGHTER, WHO IS GAY, AND A HOMOPHOBIC MOTHER’
• WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"
• I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY
• CAN I MARRY A WOMAN AS A GAY MAN?

‘I HAVE A WONRFUL DGHTER, WHO IS GAY, AND A HOMOPHOBIC MOTHER’

Scripture and the Church’s magisterium otherwise teach that homosexual sex—whether between two men or two women—is an trsic moral evil, let alone attemptg to publicly sanctn such a relatnship.

And the Church distguish between same-sex attractn (SSA) and homosexual acts (see CCC 2357-59). The obv lack of bodily plementary illtrat that one need not voke God to make a pellg argument agast homosexual sex. She also shuts down whenever I brg up boyiends or boys general (and she’s never dated a boy, as far as I know), and seems bothered by anti-gay ments and sermons she hears.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD SAYS: "I'M GAY"

I’m worried that she might be gay and don’t feel fortable tellg bee of some ments her father has ma the past. We’re already at odds over the electn, but I still love her even if she is gay. —Dghter Might Be Gay.

You mt realize you nnot make your dghter one wh ls gay by wishg she were straight.

Nor n you make her ls gay by keepg quiet when her father or pastor says somethg homophobic or by repeatedly askg if she has a boyiend. Your dghter may be gay or bisexual, but she may also be straight and merely disturbed by the anti-gay sentiment your church po. Do not let the only thg you ever say to your dghter about homophobia be nothg.

I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY

Tell her that you regret never speakg up the past when you’ve heard anti-gay slurs, that you were wrong to let homophobia go unremarked-upon, and that your love for her is not ndnally based upon her prumed heterosexualy. Support your dghter by overtly tellg her that you support her, not that you would still love her “even if she is gay.

” When you tell someone, “I still love you even if you are gay, ” what you are really sayg is this: “Obvly beg gay is worse than beg straight. There are many rourc available to you as you figure out how to parent a way gog forward that repudiat pulsory heterosexualy and anti-LGBTQ sentiments: nsir the work of Mel Whe, Soulforce, PFLAG, and the Gay Christian Network, among others. ” He seemed oddly imprsed when he saw that I was the only whe person my group of llege iends, and he speaks of his one black, gay, Jewish iend like he’s some rare llectible.

“Kchen Stk: The rtrant staff thk I n’t unrstand when they ll me anti-gay slurs Spanish.

CAN I MARRY A WOMAN AS A GAY MAN?

Qutn: I have a 20-year-old dghter who is gay and who has had the same wonrful girliend for three years.

She is extremely homophobic and racist and angry and very set her ways. She has, on numero ocsns, said that gay people will burn hell to my children and that if any of them were gay she would never so much as look at them dghter is kd and rg to absolutely everyone she meets.

As many fai the marriage referendum disvered, the power for change was largely personal and was based on rightsThere were many people who knew of someone who was gay or LGBT+ and they went out of their way to ensure that equal rights applied to their fay or iends or children of iends. When parents learn that their child is gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr, they n experience a range of emotns. As a matter of fact, you might someday look back and fd that you are grateful for the experience of havg a gay or lbian child.