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Prayers for Bobby

A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

Bobby Griffith was an all-American boy ...and he was gay. Faced with an irresolvable conflict-for both his family and his religion taught him that being gay was "wrong"-Bobby chose to take his own life.

Prayers for Bobby, nominated for a 1996 Lambda Literary Award, is the story of the emotional journey that led Bobby to this tragic conclusion. But it is also the story of Bobby's mother, a fearful churchgoer who first prayed that her son would be "healed," then anguished over his suicide, and ultimately transformed herself into a national crusader for gay and lesbian youth.

As told through Bobby's poignant journal entries and his mother's reminiscences, Prayers for Bobby is at once a moving personal story, a true profile in courage, and a call to arms to parents everywhere.

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    • Library Journal

      May 1, 1998
      Mary Griffith prayed that her gay son Bobby would be "healed." After his suicide, her anguish led her on a journey from faithful churchgoer to national crusader for gay and lesbian youth. (LJ 5/15/95)

    • Booklist

      June 1, 1995
      Very painful and personal, this is the story of a mother's struggle to reconcile the tension between her deeply held religious beliefs and the suicide of her gay son. Mary Griffith came from a religious family and raised her four children to believe in God and live a Christian life. Their conservative Presbyterian church was the center of family life for every family member except Mary's husband, Bob. When 17-year-old Bobby confided to older bother Ed that he was gay, the family's life changed. Mary convinced Bobby to pray that God would cure him and to seek solace in church activities. Bobby did it all, but the church's hatred of homosexuality and the obvious pain his gayness was causing his family led him increasingly to loathe himself. Excerpts from a diary he kept, family photos, and letters written by Mary to her dead son make the book intense reading for both high-school and public library patrons. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)

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  • English

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