"Prayers for Bobby" now available to watch on myLifetime.com

For anyone who saw my post on the Lifetime movie "Prayers for Bobby" but missed it or any of the encores over the last couple weeks, you can watch the full movie here:

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/full-movies/prayers-for-bobby-coming-this-wed/video/6622754001

You can also download the full movie from iTunes. Based on the book Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son, the first half of the movie deals with Bobby's coming out to his Christian family and especially the reaction of his devout mother, Mary Griffith, who is played by Sigourney Weaver. The second half deals with Mary coming to terms with Bobby's tragic suicide, her reconciling of her faith and her beliefs about homosexuality, and her journey to becoming a gay rights activist.

I hope that this movie will continue to be a powerful tool for us to engage and educate people about the consequences of religious bigotry, and I encourage everyone to pass this on to others who might benefit from watching it. Special thanks to Erica, one of the founders of the "Christians for Marriage Equality" group on Facebook for making sure that anyone who missed it knows that they can still watch it online.

"Prayers for Bobby" will air on Lifetime on January 24th

As a mom, one thing I know with all my heart is that my love for my children is unconditional, and I think that most parents are driven by their desire to do what they think is best for their children. Sometimes parents don't realize that something they are doing is causing them undue emotional harm until it's too late. My friend Katie posted this preview of Prayers for Bobby, a Lifetime movie that will be aired on January 24th about Mary Griffith, a conservative Christian mother who loses her gay son to suicide, and I had to pass it along. It's based on the book Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son,which actually contains excerpts from a 400-page diary he kept. I haven't seen a Sigourney Weaver movie in a while, but I've always been a fan, and this trailer made me cry. /sob

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Too bad this movie didn't come out before the election. I hope that there are people out there who will watch this and reconsider their beliefs about sexual orientation. There is another movie that I recently moved to the top of my Netflix queue, For The Bible Tells Me So,which has gotten several honors, including a nomination for the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It includes the story of Mary Lou Wallner, another mom who lost her lesbian daughter to suicide. Ironically, when I was searching for a trailer for For the Bible Tells Me So, I found this incredible piece of ignorance on YouTube, with comments from more ignorant, hateful people. What does Jesus Christ teach us about compassion? Apparently, some Christians don't seem to take the teachings of Jesus Christ all that seriously.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
- Mahatma Gandhi

UPDATE 1/10/2009: Thanks, Katie, for passing this link on. Teens who come out to their parents and whose parents respond in any number of negative ways, are 8 times more like to try to commit suicide. They are also 6 times as vulnerable to severe depression and 3 times at risk of drug use. So please... be sure to share this information with everyone you know. Through education, compassion, and understanding, we can help save lives.

UPDATE 2/5/2009: If you missed it, you can now watch Prayers for Bobby online!