Real characters & Discovering that your son is gay

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2005)

Saw this movie with our gay son this afternoon; I was blubbering and we both felt that ANYTHING we had to say would be mere babble. So we were respectfully silent with one another.
It's grand to see a movie with gay characters who are not in publishing, fashion or the law; who are not stereotyped; who are not buffed and "flapping". They have real lives to live and live them the best they can.
As for the earlier post, on discovering that your son is gay. Well - first of all you wait for him to tell you.
Then you continue to love and support him as you always have. You learn it's really awkward when he goes on dates, or brings a guy home -- but you stop and think "How would you behave if this was a girl?" -- and behave accordingly.
You open yourself to a very rich and unpredictable alternate culture; it's truly another world, one in which you take no one for granted and in which your old assumptions are best shelved.
You hope he will find a man to love, and who will love him. You learn to live with the lurking fear that some irrational homophobe will beat, kill or maim him.
You are as proud of your gay son as you are of any of your straight children.
When our son came out, he blossomed -- became v. involved in speaking out for normal rights and privileges for gay students at school, addressing teachers and assemblies of students, working with other students to establish a Gay Straight Alliance.
Is this a spoiler? The scene towards the end when Ennis visits Jack's parents pretty well summarizes the torment and the conflicted wants of all the characters in this fine movie.