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| The poster for Prayers For Bobby (2009) |
WARNING! BIG SPOILER! If you haven’t seen the film, watch it before reading this!
This evening, everyone has gone camping and I’m left home alone. I’ve just watched “Prayers for Bobby” and it’s the first time I’ve cried properly whilst watching a film. I identified with it but it’s also made me realise that I could be in a much worse situation - my parents could be bible bashers.
It’s a true story about a boy who’s gay and born into a very religious family with a very religious mother. She keeps telling him that homosexuality is sin because that’s what the bible says. He’s brought up thinking that and goes out with some girls but realises he’s not sexually attracted to them. All the girls have a thing for him but he’s not interested. His mum tries to bring him to a psychiatrist but that doesn’t work and she puts notes up around the house with quotes from the bible to try and “cure” him.
He goes to Portland to see a cousin for 2 months, meets a guy and then comes back home. In his time in Portland, his mum sent him a jumper for his birthday along with some religious AIDS leaflets. When he gets home, he follows his boyfriend’s advice and tells his mum and insists that he won’t change and she has to accept him for who he is. He says “Either you accept me or you have no son” to which she replies “then I have no son”. I burst into tears at this point for the first time watching a film since I watched Bambi when I was 4. I just can’t believe a mother could say that to her son.
Soon after, he commits suicide when he goes back to Portland. His mother takes time to get out of her tangled world of religion and realise that she’s responsible for his death. I get the impression that the father accepted his son’s homosexuality but even then, as one of the people in the film says, “Goodie! Isn’t the first thing that pops into a parent’s mind when they hear their son is gay” I know this is true, it’s not the first time I’ve heard it and I completely understand why. The mum realises that Bobby was never an ordinary boy, that something was different, and comes to terms with the fact that he was born gay and she sees it as “Gods doing” but accepts it all too late, around 9 months after Bobby’s death. Mary Griffith, the mother in true life, is now a major voice in equality campaigning. It’s amazing how she turned around and realised the truth.
I love this film. It’s very emotional. I laughed, cried and got rather angry watching it and I’m still quite emotional now, as I’m writing this. If my parents don’t get it or don’t accept me, then I’ll make them watch this film and realise just what stands in my way of happiness. Even if they do take it well, I’ll still show it to them.
It’s a true story about a boy who’s gay and born into a very religious family with a very religious mother. She keeps telling him that homosexuality is sin because that’s what the bible says. He’s brought up thinking that and goes out with some girls but realises he’s not sexually attracted to them. All the girls have a thing for him but he’s not interested. His mum tries to bring him to a psychiatrist but that doesn’t work and she puts notes up around the house with quotes from the bible to try and “cure” him.
He goes to Portland to see a cousin for 2 months, meets a guy and then comes back home. In his time in Portland, his mum sent him a jumper for his birthday along with some religious AIDS leaflets. When he gets home, he follows his boyfriend’s advice and tells his mum and insists that he won’t change and she has to accept him for who he is. He says “Either you accept me or you have no son” to which she replies “then I have no son”. I burst into tears at this point for the first time watching a film since I watched Bambi when I was 4. I just can’t believe a mother could say that to her son.
Soon after, he commits suicide when he goes back to Portland. His mother takes time to get out of her tangled world of religion and realise that she’s responsible for his death. I get the impression that the father accepted his son’s homosexuality but even then, as one of the people in the film says, “Goodie! Isn’t the first thing that pops into a parent’s mind when they hear their son is gay” I know this is true, it’s not the first time I’ve heard it and I completely understand why. The mum realises that Bobby was never an ordinary boy, that something was different, and comes to terms with the fact that he was born gay and she sees it as “Gods doing” but accepts it all too late, around 9 months after Bobby’s death. Mary Griffith, the mother in true life, is now a major voice in equality campaigning. It’s amazing how she turned around and realised the truth.
I love this film. It’s very emotional. I laughed, cried and got rather angry watching it and I’m still quite emotional now, as I’m writing this. If my parents don’t get it or don’t accept me, then I’ll make them watch this film and realise just what stands in my way of happiness. Even if they do take it well, I’ll still show it to them.
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