A woman who promised to attend gay people’s weddings if their mothers wouldn’t is getting a film made about her.
Last summer, Sara Cunningham made headlines when she posted to Facebook saying how she would attend wedding as a stand-in as so many LGBTQ people have been rejected by their parents.
Jamie Lee Curtis took notice — and has since purchased the rights to Cunningham’s 2014 memoir, How We Sleep At Night, regarding her relationship with her gay son.
“I was moved by her journey,” Curtis shared with the Washington Post. “And I continue to be thrilled as her movement is catching on.”
“I hope to do justice to her story and the story of so many marginalized people in the LGBTQ community.”
“I saw the impact that her movement has already had, in and around Oklahoma City,” she went on. “It’s exciting to watch something that was born out of such conflict develop into something of such deep compassion and expansive acceptance.”
Cunnigham wrote about her own journey in her book regarding accepting her gay son when he came out in 2011.
“I thought it might just be a phase,” she said. “And then when he turned 21, he ‘came out’ to me and said that he’d met someone and needed me to be okay with it.”
She went on to share how she became depressed and admitted how she was not the best mom when her son initially cameo out to her.
“I prayed, I fasted, I burned incense and shamed my son into burning his journals,” she shared.
“We were fighting a spiritual battle inside the walls of a non-affirming church,” Cunningham’s son, Parker shared. “My mother and I were both struggling with what we thought was a literal ‘life or death’ situation when it came to my soul and how I’d spend eternity.”
But after attending pride with her son in 2014, things changed for the family.
“It was my first encounter with the LGBTQ community, and it was as beautiful as it could be,” Cunningham said. “I realized that I’d been alienated for years by own ignorance and fear.”
The following year, she returned to pride — to offer “Free Mom Hugs.”
“Whenever I made eye contact with anybody, I’d offer to give them a hug or a high five,” she said. “I went home covered with glitter.”
And since making her offer last year — Cunnhingham has shared that quite a few people have requested she stand-in for their moms at their wedding.
She attended her first wedding last year as a stand in and says she has three more booked already.
Under the Facebook post that has over 11K lies, 1.2K comments and close to 10K shares, Cunningham pens:
“PSA. If you need a mom to attend your same sex wedding because your biological mom won’t. Call me. I’m there. I’ll be your biggest fan. I’ll even bring the bubbles.”
Cunningham continues to be very active in helping the LGBTQ community by organizing events, fundraisers as well as sharing forums for other parents of gay children to share their journey.
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