GAY: Not a choice - or crime

I feel compelled to respond to Phil Membury’s letter in which he criticizes Kelly Ferguson for having the courage to accept her son’s realization that he is gay and to support his decision to “not hide in the closet.” Homosexuality occurs biologically and is NOT a choice, and as Kelly wrote, with all the hate and bigotry, “who on Earth would choose to be LGBT?” And being homosexual is NOT committing a crime like Mr. Membury compares it to!

So what does Phil Membury mean by saying Kelly is condoning her son’s lifestyle? She loves her son unconditionally and is not standing in the way of him being who he truly is. If that’s condoning then our world would be a better place if we all did more of it!

If Mr. Membury is worried about “unnatural sex acts,” he can find plenty of examples of those to scorn in our abundant heterosexual population.

Kelly Ferguson is a parent. We parents have hopes and dreams about our child’s future. Many of us have ideas of what we would like our adult child’s life to look like. As our child grows we discover their strengths and their talents. Perhaps, the vision that we have for their future begins to sharpen.

But then, often enough, something happens that can shatter that vision. Our child grows up and begins to develop their own dreams. The plan we had for our grown-up child may not be what is right for him or her.

So, as parents we decide to either push our maturing son or daughter to do what we think would be best or we decide to accept and support their decision and help them in every way we can.

Ultimately, I am certain that most parents want their children to have success and happiness in their adult lives. They hope their child will cultivate their interests, have loving, fulfilling relationships and find success being the person they truly are. I believe there is nothing more important than that for a parent to condone.

PEGGY SORENSON, RN, OCN

Hayden