Metro Weekly

Sally Field “horrified” by parents who don’t accept gay children

LGBT rights ally advises parents not to project their own fears about sexuality onto their children

Chad Griffin with Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman Photo by Ward Morrison
Chad Griffin with Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman
Photo by Ward Morrison

“What horrifies me is that there are parents who so disapprove, who are so brainwashed to think that this is something out of the Bible or ungodly or against nature. It’s not against nature if nature has actually done this.”

–Actress Sally Field in an interview with People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle for EW Radio on SiriusXM, on the advice she’d give to parents who thought that their child was going to come out to them. “First of all, don’t be frightened. And don’t put your own prejudices or fears about sexuality — your own fears about sexuality — on your children,” she advised a hypothetical parent. “Sexuality is a human glorious part of existence.”

Field, a longtime advocate for LGBT rights, also shared her own personal story dealing with her son’s coming out as gay. She noted that her youngest son, Sam, had trouble dealing with his sexual orientation, but that she tried to encourage him to discover his true self. Field also marveled at parents who reject their children after they come out as LGBT.

“Some people actually shut their children out of the house when they’re young, they’re teenagers — they’re having a hard enough time to be teenagers and own any part of sexuality,” Field said. “I’m still trying to figure it out!”

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