OMG!!!! Sobbing my eyes out…what a fantastic movie! Prayers for Bobby is a movie you can catch on Lifetime. It is a true story about the Griffith family and their gay son Bobby who ultimately commits suicide. Bobby came from an extremely religious home therefore was always told what a sin it is to be gay; his grandmother thought all homosexuals should be done away with. Bobby always knew he was gay but he tried everything he could to not be gay because he again was always taught how awful and dirty it was and he felt ashamed and hated himself. Bobby confided in his brother that he was gay, his brother told their mother, Mary, because his brother was concerned for Bobby. Well his mother would not except this and tried and tried to pray the gay out of her son. She had Bobby do more church activities and church groups and Bobby did all he was asked to do until he no longer could be something he wasn’t.

Bobby eventually leaves home to go and live in Oregon; his mother disowned him but would still pray for his soul and send him literature about AIDS, the punishment for being gay. This movie will have you so frustrated at times if you are not against the gay lifestyle and if you are hopefully this movie will open your eyes to your ignorance. I know ignorance is a harsh word. But that is the word Mary, Bobby’s mother uses about herself. You see once Bobby killed himself, his mother went on a quest for answers at first to make sure her son’s soul did end up going to heaven instead of hell. Along the way she learns a lot more then she already knew about the bible. She learned to really examine the scripture and investigate the true meaning instead of just taking it all at face value or what she had been taught without question. In the end Mary realizes that it was her ignorance that helped to cause her son’s suicide.

In real life she has became an advocate for gay and lesbian youth because regardless of your beliefs she learned all to well that you don’t want to lose your child, and she doesn’t want other parents to learn the hard way like she did. The book the movie was based on is called Prayers for Bobby written by Leroy Aarons. Please if you are someone who has shut your child out because they are gay, please watch this movie or read the book. Mary was a devout conservative Presbyterian, and if her eyes could be opened it is her hope that yours can be also, and that my friends will help this to be A Wonderful Life!