Comedian and actress Roseanne Barr has sent out a strong message in response to Marie Osmond's son committing suicide. In a blog post titled "Marie Osmond's Poor Gay Son Killed Himself" she calls on Marie Osmond whose son is rumored to have been gay, and her daughter who is openly lesbian to renounce the Mormon Church's anti-gay stance instead of donate and promote her faith.
Barr talks about her own experience seeing the harm caused by anti-gay repression by the Mormon Church:
"I know so many mormon kids who were gay and committed suicide, and I just cannot and will not stay quiet in order to not offend bigots anymore."
She also calls out Marie directly and tells her to be proactive in changing Church policy.
"Please get some integrity and tell that church of yours that you will leave it and stop giving it ten percent of your money if they don't stop trying to destroy your kids' and all gay people's civil rights and dreams and hopes!!"
Please take a moment to thank Roseanne Barr for this and her years of commitment to LGBT rights activism.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Roseanne Takes on Marie Osmond and Anti-Gay Mormon Church
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19 comments:
I'm no fan of the LDS church, but given that there's no evidence that Marie's son was gay (he did suffer from long-term depression and substance abuse), and given that Marie has spoken in favour of gay marriage and supported her lesbian daughter... Roseanne's blog post comes off as ill-timed and rather nasty. Let these people grieve and bury their son before using his death as a soapbox for LGBT rights.
Sorry, but I'm not thanking anyone for publicly calling out a mother who has just lost her teenage son to suicide. In some ways, I think she has it right, but she expressed her ideas in a manner that's guaranteed to offend at least one person who is hurting. (Guaranteed also that other, not-famous people who have lost a loved one to suicide also won't appreciate this.) I won't call Marie Osmond an ally or heroic or anything like that, but she has publicly accepted her daughter, which I think is a powerful example for other Mormon parents. Her problem is with the church--Roseanne should be taking it to the church and not a grieving family.
I won't thank Roseanne. I may appreciate many things she's done, but Marie is a grieving mother who's been extremely supportive of her lesbian daughter and, according to all his friends, was very close to her son.
Roseanne had no right to "call out Marie" at a time like this.
I also, frankly, think it's unfair to assume anything about Michael's sexuality. And I object to her diminishing the effect of bi-polar disorder on suicide by saying it's the church's fault. She can't know that or anything about this boy.
I imagine this sort of statement would be painful to Michael's sibling's however, as the bury their brother.
Way to go Rosanne! Thanks for all your support. Power to the gays and us lesbians all around the globe. Religion says god is love, but where's the love in denying gays and us lesbians to love. My god is Mother Nature. She says love is the only way to obtain world peace. We will not deny our rightful belonging in this world. Peaceonearth!
There's a time and place for everything. I don't think this was the right time or place.... Roseanne can be very abrasive, sometimes that's a good thing, but not in this case.
Let Marie grieve and deal with her loss as she sees fit. She's been through so much...
Ive always had respect for Roseanne but time and time again she manages to say offensive things in the name of liberty. Im gay and grew up Mormon. I had an average hard time coming out and was always supported by the people in the church. Its outrageous to antagonize a family who just lost a member. Anyone with a sense of compassion wouldnt use a tragic event like this to promote equal rights. Thats not the way i want equal rights. There's a better way than calling out a grieving family. No thanks Roseanne.
Exploiting on the death of Marie's son to make a point and telling his grieving mother what she should be doing at a time like this when the funeral hasn't even taken place is not only thoughtless towards the grieving family but irrelevant to LGBT cause. Maybe when Roseanne has had the experience of burying her own child, she can make reference to Michael. Until then, don't drag Michael or Marie and her family into this.
Attacking a mother who just lost a child is low. I can't stand the LDS church, but taking a personal tragedy & twisting it for political gain is counterproductive.
"Marie Osmond whose son is rumored to have been gay..." Are you kidding me? You're spreading rumors about a soul so tormented in this life he felt the only way out was to kill himself - just to make a point?...Facts & family be damned?! That's wrong.
Yes there are LDS members who are ostracized by their family and church because they are gay. That is horrible, but this tragedy should not be exploited. Let that poor soul rest in peace. There are other ways to shed light on LDS malicious homophobia, like publicizing the release of the film "8: The Mormon Proposition"
Roseanne does not quite understand the issues involved here, and she is using a rather tasteless tactic.
But I cannot fully address the issues in a comment.
I disagree with those who think that in the case of suicide the grieving are focusing on themselves. Suicide makes the grieving focus on the person who died. You want to try to figure out what made them do it, what you might have done to stop it and what all the things were that added up to the person you loved being in such anguish that they chose death rather than another day of pain. It throws you into self examination about what kind of force you were in their life and death. Roseanne Barr's "calling out" of Marie Osmond my very well help her give herself permission to advocate for her living gay daughter. If her son had bi-polar disorder it may light a fire under her to advocate for the mentally ill - another group of people treated as sub-human by society and religion alike. Times of great upheaval in our lives can break the spell of complacency we tend to drift into and awaken in us a will to be a force of improving change.
Right on. Someone had to address the elephant in the room & thankfully, Roseanne has not only the courage, but the audience. Marie's adopted son & countless other struggling gay or even gay-questioning youth need not to feel hated. Whenever the Mormons come to my door, I always tell them they are at a gay household and "no thanks, not today, not ever."
As a gay person who grew up in the mormon faith, I understand Roseanne's concern, but I don't feel this is the right time for this and Marie Osmond isn't the person to demonize. We just don't know enough about the situation.
As someone who lost my best friend to suicide, I am deeply offended by the remarks of people attacking Rosanne Barr. Marie Osmond's involvement in the Mormon hate church makes her personally responsible for her gay son's suicide.
The people who are saying that Barr's timing was wrong obviously haven't been through losing a loved one to suicide and are exploiting what we've been through to defend a monster. You should be ashamed of yourselves for exploiting and mocking what those of us who have been through the experience have gone through.
I knew I loved Roseanne for a reason. It is unfortunate that she would chose to call out Marie, but her heart is in the right place. Go Roseanne! Mad love for ya!
She should have kept her big laugh-out-loud mouth shut. No one is going to change the ideals of the Mormon Church. Not Marie or anyone!
Roseanne should try it, she's got the bigger mouth. She will fail! She should stick to doing what she does best, spitting and grabbing your crotch like a man!
I don't think being gay alone is what made this young man jump. I think being in a church that won't stand behind you with the fact he was adopted. In the LDS church they do not want you to find your birth parents and they tell young single mothers that it's best for them to adopt their children out. A child needs both a mother and father but what about divorce like in the case of marie. In the churches eyes is that right. Poor child never knew his real mother one that would have been near her son at his hour of need.
The highest goal in the mormon church is to be married in the temple, and if they feel you are living immorally, you will not qualify. So what is the gay person to do? The Mormon church put so much money into California to fight the legalization for gay marraige. I hope when Marie heals, she can work to change church policy
Roseanne yes maybe your timing was a little premature but your hart is where it should be.
The nay sawyers in this forum are forgetting one thing, that is you have decided to put your straight self on the line to voice on behalf of gay children, and that is huge.
Our hart felt sympathies go out to the Osmand family.
As a gay man I was raised in a church as non-accepting as the Mormon Church. It was hell and left home before graduation from high school.
The hate and guilt these churches put on gay kids is criminal, and we can see the result.
Keep speaking out Roseanne we need all the voices we can get, and we thank you for it.
For the rest of you look up the movie "Latter Days" This will give you a good example of what Mormon children go through.
Roseanne manages without any difficulty to stuff her stinky feet into her stinky foul mouth. Where is HER compassion and so-called love? Back off Roseanne. YOU have no room to judge anybody - take a closer look at YOU.
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