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Sally Field: ‘Parents who disapprove of gay children horrify me’

By Ben Kelly

Sally Field has said she doesn’t understand parents who disapprove of their gay children, and that she actively encouraged her son to get to grips with his sexuality.

Speaking on a SiriusXM radio interview, the Oscar winning actress spoke directly to other parents.

“First of all, don’t be frightened,” she said, “and don’t put your own prejudices or fears about sexuality — your own fears about sexuality – on your children. Sexuality is a human, glorious part of existence.”

She explained that while her son Sam found it difficult to come to terms with his identity as a gay man, she supported him in discovering his sexuality.

“I welcomed him to welcome himself and find that part of his life,” she said.

“What horrifies me is that there are parents who so disapprove, who are so brainwashed to think that this is something out of the Bible or ungodly or against nature,” she added.

“It’s not against nature if nature has actually done this. Sam was always Sam, this wonderful human that he is, from the time he was born… Some people actually shut their children out of the house when they’re young, they’re teenagers – they’re having a hard enough time to be teenagers and own any part of sexuality. I’m still trying to figure it out!”

The actress has long been an LGBT ally, and in 2014 she said that being part of her son’s journey as a gay man was “one of the great privileges of my life.”

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