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Dear Abby Offers Great Advice to Gay Grandmother Shunned By Her Son and Religious Wife
A lesbian mother and grandmother, who came out to her now homophobic son when he was four, received valuable pro-LGBT advice from Dear Abby, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The woman, who signed her letter “Heartbroken Gay Granny,” explained in a letter to Dear Abby that she thought she’d raised her son not to judge others but that her son's wife is very religious, as is the wife's family.
The mother and grandmother went on to explain that she and her partner had visited her son and his wife often when her granddaughter was born, but that her son stopped speaking to her altogether after he and his wife had a baby boy last year.
"I have to protect my children from people who are gay. I don’t want them to know anyone who is gay,” “Heartbroken Gay Granny” wrote that her son told her was his reasoning behind shutting her out of his and his children’s lives.
She then implored Dear Abby asking, “His wife and her family are very religious, and I think this is the real reason. What can I do?”
The legendary advice columnist's response to the heartbroken granny includes a take down of the idea of protecting one’s children from LGBT people while suggesting the woman use her maternal instinct where it would be most appreciated – possibly helping LGBT youth.
“If your son is under the mistaken impression that he is going to somehow "protect" his children by isolating them from gay people, he must be living in an alternate reality,” Dear Abby cleverly writes. “Does he also plan to immigrate to the moon?”
“For your own emotional well-being, it’s important that you find other outlets for your maternal instincts and go on with your life because any child would be blessed to be a part of it,” Dear Abby suggests to the woman. “Sadly, a large number of LGBT young people are rejected by their parents when they come out.”
Dear Abby then offers that the grandmother should reach out to PFLAG as a resource.
Dear Abby, who is actually Jeanne Phillips, came out as a supporter of marriage equality in 2007, and has a history of penning pro-LGBT responses to antigay letters.
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Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
