Is it Right for a Parent to Put Her Child into a Religious Program to Make Them "Straight?"

What would you do if you child came to you one day and told you that they were gay? Would you accept them and say you love them no matter who they are? Or would you try to change them to make them how you think they should be? Most homosexual children hope their parents accept them and love them for who they are no matter who they love. Unfortunately, not all parents are like that. Parents are raised in different environments just like their children and that can be something to be respected. We all are raised with different religions and beliefs and that is okay. However, one person should never enforce their beliefs on others and should not pressure them to change who they are.

Unfortunately some parents try to change their homosexual children and try to force them to be heterosexual. You may not believe it but there are some programs out there that are nicked names "Anti-Gay Camps". Some parents put their youth or teen in these programs thinking that they will change them to be the good straight person they should be. Of course these "Anti-Gay Camps" are not call that by the groups who run them. They go by other names that go with Christian beliefs. These programs instead try to suggest that they provide freedom from immoral and bad behavior, and defaults. One of these immoral and default behavior is homosexuality. These programs also suggest that they are pure voluntary. That someone goes to them with their own free will. Can that really be true though?

If you are a minor that has just come out to your parents and your parents don't approve and want to change you by law they can legally send you to an "Anti-Gay camp" program even against your will. When in one of these programs you basically are confined to a program that monitors your behavior and what you do. You are kept from seeing your friends, and cannot act or be how you want to or you may get emotionally disciplined.

Some say that parents who put their children in this type of program are just showing their love and concern for them. Is this really showing love though? Being homosexual is not the same as being a drug addict. When you are a drug addict and your parents send you to rehab, yes that is love because they don't want you to die and hurt yourself. But can homosexuality be considered that? Homosexuality is not an addiction or mental illness. It is being who you are and loving people who you are attracted to no matter if they are of the same sex.

Again if you are a parent and your child comes to you and tells you that they are homosexual what would you do? Would you still love them? Would you throw them out? Or would you try to change them and send them somewhere that would help them be the way you think they should be? All of these are hard questions. When beliefs are involved it can be a difficult choice on what to do. Then you have to realize and come back to what the definition of love is. Is love helping someone change or is love accepting what they cannot change, and knowing the difference?

One thing that is true is that most people do not like being forced into doing something they do not want to do. Why should a parent have the right to force their children to do something they don't want to if children can't have the right back? One answer may be is that most children love their parents no matter who they are, and I think parents should do the same.