Film: Prayers for Bobby

She looked at herself as a woman and preferred to be with straight men and often got discriminated against for this. She states, “My father hated the way I was…his whole side hated the way I was,” (Berendt 105). She talks about how horrified they were when she arrived at her father’s funeral in a dress and a boy on her arm. She also discusses the difficulties she faced dating black men. Once they discovered her “T” they were often disgusted, one even held a gun to her head. This was her reasoning behind only dating straight white men, because they were often accepting. Because homosexuality was viewed as wrong and they were often harshly discriminated against, not many of them made it known.

In the midst of this breathtaking and poignant film, Carol as directed by Todd Haynes, one can see several storylines at play. Aside from the touching friendship and love story between Terez (Therese) Belivet and Carol Aird, we also become privy to a very difficult divorce ensuing between Carol and her estranged husband, Harg. Harg is a wounded man of a 1952 white, upper class, Patristic America who has lost control over a wife who can no longer deny her sexual identity. In response, he is attempting to slander Carol’s name as well as her role as a mother by adding a “morality clause” to their divorce decree. We hear her respond, “There is nothing moral about keeping Rindy from me”. Sadly, sexual orientation was a concern when it came to parenting

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their

At the age of twelve I knew for sure that I was gay. I struggled with this internally because I knew that socially it was not normal. Many people made fun of gay people, and they made some people feel very bad about themselves. The first task of coming out was not to let people get to me in

“Sex was something mysterious which happened to married couples and Homosexuality was never mentioned; my mother told me my father did not believe it existed at all ‘until he joined the army’. As a child, I was warned about talking to ‘strange men’, without any real idea what this meant. I was left to find out for myself what it was all about.” Mike Newman, who was a child during the 1950s America recalls how homosexuality was perceived during the post-World War II era (F). This sexual oppression was not only in Newman’s household, but in almost everyone’s. While the civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s and ended late 1960s, the LGBT community started to come out of the closet slowly. The gay rights movement stemmed from the civil rights movement

In conclusion, yes, Bobby is going through some hard times and we all have our days. Now we are all learning from our mistakes and we become better people from our mistakes cause we learn from what the consequences are. Bobby has become a more mature and "manly" and has started taking responsibility for his actions. I learned from this book that making mistakes is okay because in the long run we learn and grow from

The government, knowing very little about people and hardly any evidence would take anyone they thought was suspicious of anything odd for questioning and if they were suspected of homosexuality they would be fired right away. The government thought people who were gay were disloyal to the United States and made it so gay and lesbian people were without jobs in the state departments, which later started the Gay Rights Movement and till this day is still a very controversial topic. Not so much within employment in government jobs but more of people not being able to love and marry the people they please. Any person who was thought to be gay or lesbian were perceived as a security risk because they were thought of as disloyal to the United States and were discriminated against. People had a hard time distinguishing between political disloyalty and security risk.

In this time society was going through much social change. Protests and movements were very present. In the 1960s women’s rights movements, black power movements, and civil rights protest were going on. This influenced the gay community and sparked energy for them to stand up for their own rights. In 1969 Stonewall riots were occurring in result to the police raiding a gay bar by the name of Stonewall Inn. The legal system in the 1950’s and 1960’s was anti-gay. These groups were being formed to show and prove that society could function. Very few businesses welcomed publicly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s.After the series of riots and the push for social reform gays still faced many obstacles to being openly accepted and integrated into society.

Within the midst of the sexual revolution, homosexual women struggled to find comfort in the whole sexual revolution. “For most of history, lesbianism was so little understood that it was actually pretty easy for gay women to live out their lives in peace and quiet” (Collins 173). Although it was great that these women were not persecuted for being themselves, it still must have been so difficult to hide themselves. It really brings me back to our modern day because I think it is so cool to think that I lived in the year where gay marriage was legalized. Going along with that though, I can not believe how long it took for homosexual people to be accepted into our society. I could not imagine the feeling of having to hide your true self. I am thankful that the LGBTQ community can finally make their love

However society 's perspective on sexual identity has changed tremendously over the years. It used to almost be a disease that no one wanted to admit to having or have to deal with because that 's not what society viewed as “normal”. It was even said that only homosexuals can contract HIV/AIDS. In some cities, people got attacked physically because of the disagreement on homosexuality. Homosexual denied it their homosexuality because they didn 't want to be judged, but more and more people are admitting to it. Historical perspectives have changed too, especially in the U.S military service when homosexuals were banned from serving until 1993 when the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy was passed which allowed homosexual to serve in the military but not admit to it if they were asked. After World War II gay life flourished in urban areas such as Greenwich village and Harlem.

How do you think Bobby grew up? He grew up to be a man and he grew of age. Bobby started acting like an adult, he raised Feather pretty much by himself, and close to the end Bobby started acting like a parent.

The couple first thought of adoption, "If we gave our babies up, we could get on with it" (Johnson 98). While Nia was in the hospital having the baby Bobby thought he saw "Just Frank" in the hall, at that point he knew he was being a man. Then, something scary happened. Nia was sent into a coma after having the baby. Bobby was scared so he wanted to hold on to what he had left of Nia. He tried to raise Feather, keep up with school, friends, and just life in general. He talked about how it was hard to handle all of this. Bobby was tired and just wanted a break from all of it. " I want to cry. I want to cry a whole lot these days" (Johnson 79). Bobby is so overwhelmed that he wants to cry all the time. Being stressed can make people cry and having a newborn that you have to take care of yourself and juggle other life struggles would make someone really stressed. A few months after Feather was born Bobby ended up moving in with his dad in Heaven, Ohio, giving them a better

After this rebellion, homosexual individuals began to openly express their non-heterosexual preference or “closet experience” and the term “coming out” was coined. Substantial differences existed between how gay men and lesbians reacted to there coming out of the 60s. For lesbians, it was more of a political battle

Prayers for Booby movie was directed by Russell Mulcahy, and is based on the book written by Leroy F. Aarons. The book was inspired by a true story. Aarons was also the founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. The movie portraits the story of Bobby Griffith a young boy who is suffering of depression, as he is not able to cope with his feeling of being homosexual and the burden that is imposed by his family and society. His mother, Mary simultaneously struggles to understand what is happening to his son. Mary a Christian educated woman, daughter of a prejudiced mother towards homosexuality. As well as living in a community that religiously and socially was intolerant towards homosexuality. Therefore, she does not accept his son sexual orientation and attempts to ‘cure’ him instead. Bobby not capable of coping with everything that is happening after accepting he is gay and confessing it to his mother. Therefore, he feels guilty and out of context following a deep depression does not find other exit than suicidal. Bobby’s death triggers a series of events and changes in his mother’s life that will transform her way of thinking completely. We perceive in this movie, first the feeling of the individual and the struggle to cope with the environment. The intolerance and the prejudices imposed by society and religion. And finally, how a broken hearted mother, through her suffering and guilt for her death son, finds a way to break through her prejudices

When a gay couple sought to adopt a boy, who had leukemia, had been neglected