MODESTO, California — He was raised by his adoptive mother at birth. Now, they couldn't be more on opposite sides of the fence.
"My first thought was, 'Looks like Mylinda is doing what she usually does,'" said Matthew Mason, a senior kinesiology major at Stanislaus State University in Turlock with plans to become a nurse.
"I took him home when he was hours old on Thanksgiving Day 1990," said Mylinda Mason.
Matthew is gay. His mother is anti-gay. So much so, she is one of the organizers behind the proposed Straight Pride Event set for Graceada Park August 24.
The City of Modesto is considering their permit. According to the event flyer, it's meant to "Celebrate Heterosexuality, Masculinity, Femininity" and more with a heavy dose of anti-homosexuality.
"What is different now is they are being accepted and they are being normalized and my real problem with it is that it's being taken into the classroom," said Mylinda.
"My approach is to call it out for what it is, to take off the facade that they put up, put in front of it and point to this ideology that is inherently violent," said Matthew.
The group behind the proposed event is The National Straight Pride Coalition, led by man Don Grundmann, a Bay Area chiropractor. The group's website says the coalition, in part, is to defend children and future generations of "all races and colors from being destroyed" by the "Homosexual/Sodomy" movement.
In regards to her son's sexual orientation, Mylinda sees it this way.
"I'm saddened by it because it is because it is a life and culture of death," Mylinda.
"It's not really understanding the diversity that exists in the human experience and they're not appreciating that and I feel like they're really losing out," said Matthew.
The Straight Pride Event permit application says it expects 500 people, with speakers taking the stage.
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