"Like sunshine in the darkest abyss I've ever experienced."
May 14, 2013
6:31PM
Post by Joanna Brooks
What would you do if you were the conservative LDS parent of a thirteen year-old son who told you he is gay?
Thats the difficult question at the heart of a tender and essential new movie, Families are Forever, produced by the Family Acceptance Project and premiering at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah this week.
The Family Acceptance Project (FAP) is led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan of San Francisco State University, whose work developing materials to improve health and reduce suicide and drug use among LGBT young people by supporting their families has been recognized as a best practice by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. FAP has developed materials in collaboration with and specifically for LDS families; you can find them here.
Families are Forever is a twenty-minute film that takes us inside the very Mormon household of Tom and Wendy, committed and conservative LDS parents, and their adolescent son. It screens this week at a special event at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. I spoke with Wendy about her experience as a faithful LDS person who has chosen to be supportive of her gay teenage son.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/7112/_like_sunshine_in_the_darkest_abyss_i_ve_ever_experienced_/
Here's an earlier video from The Family Acceptance Project.
http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/home