On this 15th episode, I talk to Jackie McQueen. She had been the wife of a Southern Baptist pastor for 30 years. And she firmly believed that being gay was a choice. But her world turned upside down on April 8, 2014, when she found out that her son was gay. For the past three and a half years, she has struggled with her conscience, her faith and being a mother.

She is an ordinary person whom God has called to do extraordinary things, and her courage, compassion, and conviction make her a shining example of the best of Christianity.

Jackie talks about those initials months after their church found out her son was gay. The deacons told them their son couldn’t talk about being gay at church, and he couldn’t do anything “gay” at church either. Parents were worried that their son might try to convert their children. The youth leader staged an intervention when their son went on a youth group trip to Florida. Eventually, Jackie and her husband realized that the church couldn’t handle them anymore, and they had to leave their church home. And their denomination.

Some questions:

• Is being gay a choice?
• Why is homosexuality looked at differently than divorce?
• Why do conservative Christians spend so much time focused on the lives of other people?