http://www.joshweed.com/2012/06/club-unicorn-in-which-i-come-out-of.html
This is a blog post about Josh Weed, who is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who happens to be gay. I loved this post. I read it in tears with so much emotion swelling up as I read. I was so proud of him and his beautiful wife for their brave honesty. They are the kind of people I would love to meet and have as my great friends. To have the courage to be so honest about such a difficult, perhaps unique, perhaps not so unique, situation, is very inspiring to me. He is very happily married with three beautiful daughters. I wonder how many other people are breathing a sigh of relief to know that they are not alone.
I have such hope for our society, most especially the broad Mormon community to which I belong, to embrace and love all people without harsh judgments and criticisms. What a gift we could give to each other if we could be open with our struggles and know that we will receive nothing but love and understanding in return.
Obviously this hit very close to home for me since my mother is now openly gay. My dad has told me more than once that he would have stayed married to her if she had been willing. I asked my mom and my sister to read Josh's story and they had very different reactions to it. They both wanted to focus (in different ways) on how he and his wife have chose to live, but to me the most important part of the article was where they talked about the fact that no matter how an individual or a couple chooses to deal with homosexuality it is not an easy choice and they are giving up something very close to their heart. I loved when they talked about loving everyone and not judging. I hope they continue to be happy they went public with their story.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that our goal? Pure love for all people without judgment for actions or choices that are different than our own? I so agree, Natalie. I can't imagine how overwhelmingly difficult it must be in our culture and society to be open about who you are if it is different than what we perceive is the societal norm? I love that your dad had that reaction. He must love your mom very much. And what a difficult decision your mom had to make -- either decision would come with pain.
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