The documentary presents the story of five sets of parents and their response to their son or daughter coming out of the closet. Every story is different, and there are different levels of acceptance. Jake Reitan is a gay teen, and a strident activist against gay discrimination. He is enthusiastically supported by his parents, whom he uses in his protests against anti-homosexual religious organizations. This qualifies as a happy ending.
The Gephardt family provides another successful outcome. Richard Gephardt, a conservative Republican congressman from Missouri, and his wife Jane learn that their married daughter Chrissy is a lesbian and getting a divorce. They're fine with that. Good for them.
A third happy ending comes to Gene Robinson, a lifelong Christian who eventually accepts his homosexuality and eventually becomes the first openly gay Episcopal priest. His aged parents remain proud of their son, but hold back when the question of his homosexuality is raised.
The agreement not to disagree between parents and child is also part of a fourth family. Tonia Poteat is a lesbian, and her fundamentalist Christian parents love but do not fully accept her status.
Things went badly in the fifth family. College student Anna Wallner wrote a letter to her mother informing her she was a lesbian. Mother Wallner wrote back condemning her actions. Contact was broken off, and Anna committed suicide about a year later. Devastated, the mother, Mary Lou Wallner, read books on homosexuality and eventually became an activist for homosexual rights.
How others will see it. This documentary unsurprisingly comes out completely against the fundamentalist church position on homosexuality. Thus, reaction to the film depends upon one's opinion towards homosexuals. Those who believe homosexuality is a sin need not see the film. It will simply anger or frustrate them.
How I felt about it. The biblical argument against homosexuality is laid out in Leviticus 20:13. The film then tries to play down the obvious condemnation by placing the scripture in a cultural context. It then notes that if the Bible is taken literally, it equally condemns numerous other seemingly trivial things, such as wearing clothing of certain fabrics. The majority of grown ups eventually realize that the Bible is a cultural document and is not the literal word of God.
If taken literally, the Old Testament is incredibly intolerant, while the New Testament is impractical, and states among other things, that you should sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor [Mark 10:21]. Don't expect any television preachers who travel via private jet to follow that verse. Gandhi once stated, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Intolerance, one supposes, is part of the hypocrisy that Gandhi refers to.
The truth is, the Bible is selectively used by groups who advocate an agenda that benefits themselves. Religion is ultimately a business, and it doesn't pay unless you confirm what your congregation already believes.
That said, people have been brainwashed their entire lives by the church about, among other things, the evils of homosexuality, and they believe it for the most part because it is the easier and safer thing to do. Only when they finally realize that someone they respect or care for is gay do they re-examine their beliefs. If then.
Is the movie about the attitude of the church toward gays, or is about the attitudes of the parents of gays? Both. The film states the attitudes of the parents was set by the church, and later changed by the child.