Children often times have much more sense than the adults who control their world.
This is a brief story of a sixteen year old. A girl who has spent the last three years of her life listening to a fundamentalist step mother trying to convince this child and her siblings that their mother is going to hell because she is a lesbian.
This child has been subjected to harsh discipline and punishments because she had the nerve to tell a judge that she loved her mom and wanted to see her. This child explained to the judge that it was okay with her if her mom had a girlfriend, maybe a little different, but no she didn’t think it would turn her into a homosexual to be around them. She just wished her dad would stand up to his new wife and make her quit talking about her mom.
Even after the court set visitation orders, explained to the Dad that his children wanted to see their mother and issued a new set of orders, there were continued obstructions. They were not allowed to talk to their mother and then communications with their maternal grandparents was limited.
This summer this young woman finally had enough. She asked to be able to go visit her mother before school started. She was told no. She called her mother who went and picked her up.
She called her father and was told if she went -to not come back. She went. She is home. She does not think her mother is going to hell because she is in a same-sex relationship. She respects her mother’s partner. She is worried about whether her father and step mother will allow her to maintain contact with her younger siblings. I suppose her father and step mother are worried about her catching homosexuality and going to hell. Children often times have much more sense than the adults in their world.
6:28 PM PT: just to update after being asked in comments. This is a case that I was personally involved with as an attorney.