Last February I wrote my first piece for Rational Faiths called When it Comes to Equality, Which Side of History Are You On? I have been very proud of my writing for Rational Faiths as a whole, but there’s something about that piece that makes it my favorite; the one I’m most proud of. It explains my transition to becoming an LGBT ally and cites the substantial statistics and facts that ultimately led to my acceptance of LGBT people and my conclusion that, “If opposing homosexuality on all levels is ultimately the right path in God’s eyes and I’m wrong, I risk having loved too deeply and trying too hard to be empathetic and I will be punished accordingly. If, however, equal rights for homosexuals is actually in line with Christ’s will and I didn’t help my fellowman—I risk causing pain, suicide, distancing people from God, and depriving other people of the things in life I love best.” It was after reading this post that Wendy and Thomas Montgomery reached out to me and thanked me for my message. They are amazing parents to their all of their children, including their gay teenager, and have become ambassadors to create a safe community and acceptance of LGBT people among the Mormon community.
appear left and right in her comments and other comments of my friends. I had no idea what Mama Dragon meant at first, but I soon learned that several supportive, proactive mothers of gay Mormon children have banded together and been reborn as Mama Dragons. Why have these women branded themselves as dragons? What could possibly cause someone to have to identify with a ferocious, aggressive beast within their religious community? I decided to ask some of them to find out why:Alyson Paul Deussen: Our experience has been one of rejection and loneliness from a group I always thought was supposed to walk by our side.
How does a young 13-year-old reconcile the fact that he is no longer welcome amongst his peers/leaders at church? We’ve experienced a suicide attempt, being told if he goes on a scout camp out, other parents won’t allow their boys to go. Or that he can attend overnight activities only if he sleeps elsewhere (away from other kids). When many leaders won’t reach out to him or include him in any activities at all, what is a parent to do? If these things don’t make a mothers heart ache I don’t know what does.
I have tried on many occasions to meet with my ward/stake leaders to increase awareness and acceptance over the past two years without much success. Unless these leaders are willing to reach out to the gay members in their wards with love and understanding we will continue to see our LGBT youth and families feel rejected and unwelcome in a place that should be a haven.
That fight for me will not end. I don’t want to see another person, family or child go down that road without endless love and support. For this reason this mama will fight like a dragon to ensure all members or non members feel love and kindness and not the pain and suffering we have felt.
Glenda Crump: Many people, including my Bishop and Stake President, say being gay is like being a drug addict…you can love the child but not accept that they are doing drugs. For me that theory does NOT work. I had a child who was a drug addict, the drugs tore away at who he was, and he was in a dark place. The drugs were a choice and a harmful one at that. My daughter did not have a choice to be born gay or not; it is the way her Heavenly Father created her and she is perfect in His eyes. There are a few options for our LGBT kids; they can choose to take their lives (which many of them do especially in the LDS Faith), they can marry someone of the opposite sex (most of which end in broken families and the leaders have now counseled against the attempt), or they can be alone–which is against everything our religion teaches and usually leads to depression and suicide anyway. Those are the only options the LDS church supports. My Bishop and Stake President called me in to discuss my daughter and how I felt about her choices. Because I refused to openly call my daughter a sinner and also refused to condemn her for being in a same sex relationship, they threatened to take away my temple recommend. My Stake President said negative things about Harry Reed and his support for gay rights. It was a hurtful, contentious meeting and he shamed me and made me feel like I was not worthy to be a Relief Society President. Less than a week later, I was released. It was a hurtful time in my life and in the life of all my children who were already struggling with the church. I have come to understand that though the Gospel is true, the church has a lot of faults because it is ran by men who are imperfect. At first I felt ashamed to let people know about my child, and I faced the long hard road mostly by myself. Now I am a Mama Dragon.
Jen Blair: I watched conferences with hope that there would be positive instruction about this issue. Each session ended with nothing but condemnation for the politics surrounding this. The only message that we could find was that it was okay to BE gay as long as you didn’t really ACT gay. Allies to the community are clearly painted as adversaries to the gospel. As my son has come out publicly, we have had very little direct confrontation. For the most part, we have simply become invisible. There is a palpable tension now. Many members don’t really know how to relax around me any more. They don’t really know how to relate to the mother of a gay son. This has been very difficult. A recent letter from a family member caused upset. Instead of a letter expressing pure love, a collection of church quotes were used as well as a copy of Boyd K. Packer’s testimony and an expression of love for Elder Packer. I have gotten text messages including “I’m a one-on-one true friend, but not a public friend,” and “Don’t translate my public silence as judgment.”
I have lost closeness with many because I am unable to talk about the advocacy and education that I feel passionate about. My relationship with specific family members will never be the same as they now openly question my parenting where they never had before.
Christy Cottle: When my son came out to me as gay at the age of 13, I realized that he had been sitting hearing from the pulpit and in classes for his entire life that he was an abomination. I cannot express the pain that this realization caused me. I had no idea where to turn for help and how to proceed forward. I was terrified for his safety both physically and emotionally. I knew we could not go to our Bishop or other leaders; I didn’t want them to tell me in their ignorance that my son was not whole and perfect the way he was born. We kept the news private within our family for a time. I started reaching out, looking for resources. I wanted to find a book titled: How to Raise Your Gay Son in The LDS Church, but nothing like that existed. Everything that I found written by the leadership was vile and hateful towards those that are gay. I couldn’t and wouldn’t allow my son to ever be abused by the ignorance of the LDS leadership ever again. I grew continually more worried by the phone calls and texts that he sent me expressing the anguish he was experiencing during a lesson at church that was referring to gay people as an abomination. We decided that for the time being that it was safer for us to not attend regular meetings or associate with those that cannot be supportive of us raising our son in a gay-affirming household. This has brought much peace into our hearts as we have found other resources and support outside of the church. There are days that my heart yearns for fellowship with the group and religion that formed and influenced much of my life. It is tragic that the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole cannot provide that safe haven to many.
I am finding more and more that the general Mormon population think that “the gay issue” has been taken care of. That the church is loving and accepting of homosexual people and has a place for them. Sure they aren’t “allowed” to act on it, but it would seem that most are assuming that LGBT people are otherwise openly accepted in Mormonism. This truly could not be further from the truth for the majority LGBT people and their family members or friends who openly support them. Instead, the best-case scenarios commonly reflect Elder Oaks’s recommendation on how to treat LGBT family members or friends: ‘Yes, come, but don’t expect to stay overnight. Don’t expect to be a lengthy house guest. Don’t expect us to take you out and introduce you to our friends, or to deal with you in a public situation that would imply our approval” (1). I honestly don’t know how LGBT people are to feel welcomed and loved if such restrictions are suggested in the way to “love” them. There’s about as much love and acceptance in that scenario as allowing a hungry mosquito to bite you for as long as you can tolerate it before shewing it away, and yet this does appear to be the best that most Mormons can muster.
This isn’t just to make LGBT people comfortable at church. This is literally to save lives. The following study was done by Caitlyn Ryan of the Family Acceptance Project and San Francisco State University. Their research and conclusions concerning LGBT children raised in highly-religious families were peer-reviewed and published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Higher rates of family rejection were significantly associated with poorer health outcomes. On the basis of odds ratios, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to report having engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection. ” (2)
Utah has an estimated 5,000 homeless youths, about 40 percent of whom identify as LGBT people–50 percent of whom were raised in LDS families (3). What needs to be realized about the staggering nature of these statistics on homeless teens is that only 7% of teens in Utah identify as LGBT, so for them to make up 40% of the homeless youth in Utah is problematic beyond words.
It is clear that “loving the sinner and hating the sin” is pretty much the worst way to love someone. Instead we need to love the sinner (realizing we are all sinners) and only hate our own sin. There is no cause to judge or reject others for homosexuality when truly, its nature and purpose here on earth is beyond any of our comprehension. Everyone is free to come to their own personal conclusions on the sinful or nonsinful nature of homosexuality, but in no way is it anyone’s right to project limiting beliefs on others. My prayer is that one day there will be no need for mothers to have to turn into dragons to protect their children from their religious community. Until then, I’m glad that God has given these women the courage, talons, and fire needed to protect His LGBT sons and daughters from harm.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/346.full?ijkey=NrncY0H897lAU&keytype=ref&siteid=aapjournals
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