Parents Indeed
It's 3:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake, so here I am blogging. Let's talk about the latest homosexual celebrity, Maya Keys. Actually let's talk about her parents. Her father is Alan Keys, notorious "family values" adjitator, who recently lost his bid for an Illinois Senate seat to Barak Obama. Perennially outspoken about the moral decline of America, Alan Keys has recently shown us what his family values are by disowning his lesbian daughter. Despite the fact that Maya put off college to help her dad with his campaign (even though she disagrees with him on just about every political issue), even though she will not say she is glad her dad lost his campaign, her parents have thrown her out of the house, refuse to help pay for her college education, and have stopped talking to her. Maya continues to hope for a future reconcilation. Traditional family values indeed.
Still, that's nothing compared to the Mormon mother who let her son commit suicide. The family had been privy to his struggles with his sexuality. Privy to his late night anxiety attacks which kept him pacing till all hours of the morning. Privy even to his decision to kill himself. Did this mother have him committed and put on suicide watch? Did she get him into counselling? Did she get him to a doctor of any kind? Nope. True to his word, he blew his brains out on the church steps. She writes that she felt peace with his decision. Was that peace or relief? Was it just easier to have him gone and let God sort it out than to have to actually deal with it? She says she was assured by a prominent church leader that there was room enough in the Savior's atonement for what her son had done. If you ask me, it's not her son who needs forgiveness.
Obviously it's because I'm gay and so I can't possibily understand family values, but what the f***ing hell? I can at least make some sense of the Keyes family. Even if their beliefs on homosexuality are wrong, as a parent there are lines you have to draw. I'm sure they feel they are doing the right thing. While I think it's shameful, I can at least see the twisted logic in their reasoning. But how can you let a child fall so far into despair that he kills himself? How can you know of his intentions and do nothing?
And just for the record, I have two daughters, 10 and 13. I am not speaking hypothetically of parenting. Nor do I pretend to be the perfect parent. We all do the best we can, but I can't even begin to imagine treating my daughters like this. It's just wrong. Is this what your religion teaches you? Then you can keep it. This is your idea of a "moral America?" Then I will fight you every step of the way.