Marie Osmond's Son Commits Suicide

[Soon]

Originally Posted by cybersuebee

I certainly have no personal knowlege of Marie Osmond's son's sexual orientation. He could well have been gay. But I'm just not that terribly sure how responsible it is to use Roseanne Barr's personal blog as an information source.

Just sharing Barr's opinion--I'm not positing that her opinion of Marie's son's orientation is an actuality.

That being said, I do think she makes very good points regarding acceptance, and I can appreciate her rant about the Mormon Church (in this case), and the potentially destructive effects their bigoted teachings have on lgbt youth.

[ruthie14]

Just my own personal experience with the mormon church and homosexuality. I came out of the closet and my daughter who is mormon, has not spoken to me since. Her mormon husband and certainly her church have forbidden her. I love her and miss her very much!

[AtLast]

Terribly sad. I have not viewed any media info on this, so reserving any opinion about it in terms of how he was raised, or religious factors. And also, what role his being gay actually played. I have no idea if he was gay. Just the fact that this is a suicide makes me feel badly.

I don't have a lot of love for the LDS religion per se, but also have known LDS families that accepted their gay kids. There is also a LDS gay association in SF. I think that like many religions, there exist more liberal offshoots that do not accept the LDS doctrines as truth. But, I do think that this is extremely difficult when a family is in the heart of LDS country such as in Utah. people do leave this and may still have a belief in God likened to what they grew up with as LDS, but I can't just throw all LDS people into one pile.

I have never cared for Barr and don't put much stock in her statements. Frankly, I find them cruel (and really just gossip) in terms of someone having a child suicide. We don't know what was really going on in that family or with Osmond's son.

[Luv]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvkpAs9F68c"]YouTube- Marie Osmond on her lesbian daughter Jessica and gay rights[/ame]

[Soon]

I knew Marie was supportive of her lesbian daughter and even equal rights; still doesn't (for me) negate the harm that the Mormon Church--as an organization--has done to queer kids (not saying that he was) and our community as a whole.

As for Roseanne, she wrote another statement following her initial one:

March 7, 2010

I am very sorry that I said anything about Marie Osmond's son

I saw on the front page of a tabloid that he had killed himself because he could not handle being gay, and I wrote about how angry that made me, after seeing it hundreds of times, growing up as I did in Utah. I don't know the Osmonds, but was always offended at their constant defense of the indefensible things that their church does, the way it promotes hatred and racism and sexism, tax free.

I have known so many gay people who killed themselves, or suffered and that is why I put myself on the line to bring TV's first gay characters to America. I never intended for my comments to be picked up and broadcast on sleazy gossip TV shows, or on other blogs. That was done without my consent or knowledge.

I always intended that my remarks are directed to Power, and always on behalf of its victims. I am sorry to have hurt Marie Osmond, who is the most open minded person in her whole family. I really apologize to her. I thought about waiting to say what I had to say, but then I thought that perhaps there was no better time to add to the conversations in America about homophobia.

Alot of people know they are gay at age three, and I just feel that is why parents should keep little ones away from organizations that tell them from an early age that they are sick and going to hell and not worth the love of God. That is so vile, and a large part of the reason that I never sent my own kids to any synagogue or other religious place ever. You never know if your kids are gay, and aside from that, why would you want to take any of them to a place to learn about God, that teaches hate?

I really encourage parents to stop destroying their children by doing that. It is not good family values. Being gay is not a choice. I didn't choose to be straight anymore than my siblings chose to be gay, or we chose to be born Jews in SLC, where we were all tormented daily by hateful Mormon neighbors (not all of them were hateful, but too many were).

Anyway, I apologize again for having added to another mother's pain, and have asked myself if I should have said nothing at all, or waited a while to say what I said. I really don't know. I think it's good to get people talking about being more aware of what we accept, and i know that my comments got people talking.
The hateful letters I have received from the darkest minds of all, the religious, have made me re-think ever adding my views or my voice to anything ever again in this country. It's a scary time in America, for everybody, but especially for people like me who have a less sanitized view of all of it.

I will leave this up for a while, and then I am just done. I appreciate the letters from gay people who thank me for speaking out on their behalf, but y'all are just going to have to take up the slack I will be leaving behind me. I am old now and tired, and not really feeling up to being the only person who says things that no one else will say.

It definitely is not a good way to live my life anymore. I don't want to end up a martyr for truth. I have felt that people expect me to be loud and outspoken, and I was happy to play that role for many years. I have enjoyed being a comedian and provoking not just laughs, but thinking.

I do not appreciate being accused of using the death of a young suffering person to seek publicity. That is so vile a thought to me, and the people who say it so vile and ignorant, that I feel my absence from the public is desirable. I am done.

I again want to encourage Marie to come through this tragedy as a stronger woman who has alot of power to get bad things in the world changed, starting in her own church. I know that tragedy makes a person rethink their place in the world, and I send her all good thoughts for healing. Anyway, that's that.

She also posted this video:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm3sHEW8k0U"]YouTube- Mormons Teach Homosexuality is next to Murder![/ame]

[Soft*Silver]

my brother committed suicide when he was 24. I was 18. He used a shot gun. There are so many details floating in memories that are too grotesque to share here. But I will say this...Roseanne's blog is pretty much what to expect when someone you love commits suicide. At least from my own experience. I cant believe what came out of people's mouths..its as if they had lost all social sense. People told me my brother was going to burn in hell for taking his own life. And I had to live down what he did. And that he was a coward. And they wondered if he had gotten a girl pregnant. (back in the days this was a horrible mess) or was he a "queer" or did he have a drinking problem?

At the time, it made me bitter...and I slammed shut so no one could get to my core, which had just been skinned open by his violent death. Its when I started to drink, so I could numb out the autrocity of his death and the stupidity of how people responded to it.

Now, after sobriety and therapy, I realize those people didnt know better. I can forgive them for adding salt into the wounds. That doesnt make what they did,right. In fact, it is SO wrong that I spend awhole lot of time in my personal life educating people about suicide. I dont want anyone to go thru what I went thru.

Roseanne was way off base for saying what she did. She needs to understand that once you say something, it lasts a lifetime. She needs to think before she speaks...

[Andrew, Jr.]

My younger brother committed suicide when he was just 15 yo. What started the whole chain of events was he took out the family car after Dad told him not too. He had an accident with the car. And from there it just went downhill.

People do say horrible things when someone commits suicide. Things that they say are mind blowing.

People also say horrible things when my sister, Jo died from skin cancer. The things they said to us, and her 2 boys...just unbelieveable.

I wish there was a course in ettiquette on handling death. No matter what the situation is, or how it happened.

[Apocalipstic]

Has anyone here met Marie Osmond?

I have and I must say I am thrilled that I am not related ot her.

So sad her son died, I completely understand how difficult it is to grow up gay in a church who believes gays are abominations. I hope someday churches like that will clue in to what they are doing to people.