Father and gay son
Love Across Deep Difference: A Father’s Journey with His Same-sex attracted Son
Tom Shippee and his oldest son, Alex, are passionate Christians. Both together and separately, they’ve been on an in-depth theological journey to explore what it looks fancy to be a family that disagrees on what constitutes faithful sexuality. In this Q&A, Tom shares his thoughts about what it’s meant to attempt squaring the truths of their lives with their unlike understandings of God’s truth as revealed in the Bible.
Note: This is the first of a series. Wait tuned for subsequent questions and responses with Tom.
How would you characterize your own theological position, and that of your son? What labels, if any, do you use?
To be honest, both of us resist labels because they are completely inadequate within the nuanced reality of who we are as human beings. I strongly hold to a traditional, or what is sometimes called the Side B, sexual ethic. That means that genital sexual attachment is reserved for a covenantal marriage between one guy and one lady. Alex has chosen to date men with the intent of entering into a long-term intimate covenantal relationship with a single gentleman. So, I surmise that puts him
Help! My Son is Gay
by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director
“So should I push my son towards women now?” That’s a question I often get from fathers of young men who are struggling with same gender attractions. Dads are often devastated by the discovery of their son’s homosexuality. But the respond to their son’s struggle is not to push him into the arms of a woman. In fact, such a move could actually do more damage than good.
But what should a dad perform for his son? In a word: connect! I comprehend when saying that many dads might think, “I am connected to my son. He’s my son. I’ve been around him since birth. We are fine.” But the fact is that simply being display doesn’t mean you have any gentle of emotional, intimate, connection with your son. He is a sensitive guy who needs to be spoken to in a language he can notice and understand. Proclamations of facts perform little to shift his heart. He wants words dripping with raw sentiment and heart-felt love. He wants to know you, intimately, and feel the weight of your passion for him. In many ways, he wants you to look him straight in his eyes and narrate him how much you love him, how proud you are of him, and how you think he has what i
Gay Like Me
Being gay is a gift, Jackson writes, but with their gains in jeopardy the homosexual community must not be complacent.
As Ta-Nehisi Coates awakened us to the continued pervasiveness of racism in America in Between the World and Me, Jackson’s rallying cry in Gay Like Me is an eye-opening indictment to straight-lash in America. This manual is an intimate, personal exploration of our uncertain times and most troubling questions and profound concerns about issues as fundamental as dignity, equality, and justice.
Gay Like Me is a blueprint for our time that bridges the knowledge gap of what it’s like to be gay in America. This is a cultural manifesto that will stand the test of time. Annoyed, proud, fierce, tender, it is a powerful letter of love from a father to a son that holds lasting awareness for us all.
A portion of the author’s proceeds will be donated to
The Trevor Project.
Father opens up about coming out to his 3 sons: I'm still the same dad as before
"Good Morning America" is featuring stories in celebration of Celebration Month. Scott Takacs, a 46-year-old and father of three, penned a personal essay about his experience coming out as a gay man to his sons. Read about his journey below in his own words.
Coming out at 42
I was 42 years old when I came out to my wife. It was 15 months later that I started that same conversation with my three boys -- 9-year-old twins and an 11-year-old.
The whole experience is somewhat of a blur, mostly in part to the fact that at that point in my being there was a lot of change happening and some significant pent-up emotions. There wasn't much of a plan, no guidebook in hand, only goals that I hoped my boys would start the process of knowledge and accepting their dad for whom I truly was: a gay man.
It had been a long 15 months since coming out to my wife, an experience I unfortunately wouldn't illustrate as positive, fun or something I ever want to do again. It was wrought with the happiness of finally telling the closest person in my genuine identity, while simultaneously ripping her wo