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What would you do if your son/daughter told you they were gay? [W:302,308,330]

I wouldn't call it judging your child. I would call it letting your child know that just like everyone else, they were born with a sin nature, theirs happens to be homosexuality.

So, what does that mean then? Does that mean you view all sins as the same regardless of what it is?
 
Sad stories indeed. Some folks have been raised with (or later taught) odd beliefs indeed, and will make decisions based on those odd beliefs yet, unless that is a crime (at 18 it is likely not, but at 13 it probably is), I see nothing much that can be done about it.

Its definitely a crime, but the couple has six other children.
 
So, what does that mean then? Does that mean you view all sins as the same regardless of what it is?

Yes. That is correct. Meaning that I sin just as much as everyone else, but the difference is trying to pursue a life without sin vs. living in open sin.
 
If your kid happened to be me, your living room would look like crap. For some reason I missed the day at gay camp where they taught us to have good taste.

If that was the case, I'd just tell him to go mow the lawn.
 
I wouldn't call it judging your child. I would call it letting your child know that just like everyone else, they were born with a sin nature, theirs happens to be homosexuality.

The God I worship loves everyone. Everyone.
 
Honestly, the point wasn't the article. I threw that in as an afterthought thinking that if people had an interest in it they could look further on their own. I have seen multiple articles and studies referencing it though, while the exact numbers may differ from source to source, it is not an uncommon response. As much as I disagree with that response, I can empathize with a parent that feels trapped between their faith and their love for their child. I think in the majority of cases this is the conflict.

I have done some volunteer work at a local shelter here that focuses on these kids, I think the numbers are pretty reliable.

I don't know. I'm pretty skeptical about that 40% number. That is an awful lot, almost half, and you think that it is strictly due to the child's sexual preference? Again, I am very skeptical and would definitely need more evidence.
 
I don't know. I'm pretty skeptical about that 40% number. That is an awful lot, almost half, and you think that it is strictly due to the child's sexual preference? Again, I am very skeptical and would definitely need more evidence.

Gooooooooogle it. You will find it.
 
Gooooooooogle it. You will find it.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not doubting that there is a number of 40%. I'm skeptical that it is true because it is only based on one side of the story. IOW, these numbers were come to by asking the runaways only, not the parents or anyone else who may tell a different side of the story. That really isn't something that can be just "googled." :)
 
I would have my son re-decorate my house, for starters.
 
I would never reject my child or anyone else because they were gay. That is so ignorant that anyone would throw their child out of the home because of a sexual orientation. :roll: You are supposed to love your children unconditionally.

I distrust these polls. Sure it happens, but I suspect that it is way overstated as to that (parents tossing them exclusively for being gay) being the reason they left home. I would be interested in a poll of the homes where the kid was kicked out of/ran away from being taken. Kids on the street have no problem playing the victim, especially if it can put some change in their pocket. I suspect a lot of these kids left for reasons, at best, secondary to their orientation.
 
I learned a fair amount recently about the number of kids that end up on the street (homeless) because their parents kick them out of the house when they come out; heartbreaking in my opinion. There is little either of my children do (possibly nothing) that would prompt me to abandon them.

As many as 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, and a new Williams Institute study of youth shelters confirms this estimate. Between October 2011 and March 2012, 354 agencies completed surveys about their clients and found that about 40 percent of their homeless and non-homeless clients were LGBT (9 percent of whom identified as bisexual). About 30 percent of clients using housing-related services (like emergency shelter and transitional living programs) were LGBT.

What was particularly disconcerting about this study was how evident family rejection contributed to this disproportionate number of homeless LGBT youth:

Of all the agencies’ LGBT homeless clients, 68 percent have experienced family rejection and more than half (54 percent) experienced abuse in their family. Fortunately, nearly 80 percent of the service providers who work with clients under the age of 18 are doing family acceptance-related work, though only about half of providers working with older youth offer such resources.

The largest barriers to doing more work to reduce LGBT youth homelessness were insufficient state funding, insufficient local funding, and insufficient federal funding.

This data demands that more be done to support these agencies, but important than treating the symptom is treating the problem itself. Family rejection is devastating the lives of young people across the country, and very few organizations outside the Family Acceptance Project are addressing this issue. It’s all too easy to see LGBT homeless youth as an invisible population, but there is a very visible onslaught of anti-gay and anti-trans propaganda specifically targeting parents to raise their fears of the LGBT community. Rather than protecting children, the anti-gay efforts led by conservative evangelical Christians may very well be causing the exact kinds of child abuse that they blame LGBT people for.


STUDY: 40 Percent Of Homeless Youth Are LGBT, Family Rejection Is Leading Cause | ThinkProgress

What would you do?

I wouldn't be happy about it, but I wouldn't be inclined to throw them out either.

They could continue to live at home so long as they respected the rules therein. Their "significant other" could come over for dinner every once in a while if I gave permission ahead of time, but under absolutely no circumstances would they be fooling around or spending the night together under my roof.

To be fair, however; this is a rule that I would apply just as strictly to a heterosexual child as the homosexual variety anyway.
 
Your point? He still hates sin..... :shrug:

I hate that my daughter listens to rap music. It doesn't mean I love her any less.

God is the Father. We are His children. It makes things a lot easier to understand that way.

Also, He didn't make you His mouthpiece. That's what the Bible is for, and it's open to interpretation, so what you might consider sinful, others might not. We've had this argument before, and neither of us will back down, so have a nice day.
 
I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not doubting that there is a number of 40%. I'm skeptical that it is true because it is only based on one side of the story. IOW, these numbers were come to by asking the runaways only, not the parents or anyone else who may tell a different side of the story. That really isn't something that can be just "googled." :)

I distrust these polls. Sure it happens, but I suspect that it is way overstated as to that (parents tossing them exclusively for being gay) being the reason they left home. I would be interested in a poll of the homes where the kid was kicked out of/ran away from being taken. Kids on the street have no problem playing the victim, especially if it can put some change in their pocket. I suspect a lot of these kids left for reasons, at best, secondary to their orientation.

Again, why even go there? Why question the accuracy of the numbers? It's really not about the numbers. Does it warrant any less repulsion if the numbers are lower?
 
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