though we all come from different backgrounds we all have things in common,” Guilbeaux says. “And we can all relate and grow from each other.”
“God spoke to me one day,” Mama Tammye said. “And asked me, ‘Why can’t you love your son the way I do?’” Since then, she sought her own relationship with God, independent of what others around her believed. She asked her son for forgiveness, as the Bible instructed her to do if she wronged someone.
The ugly reality of homophobia in the United States is that it is most rampant in communities of color and in Christian households. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 77 percent of African Americans “have heard their families say something negative about LGBTQ people” and only 12 percent feel comfortable talking about their sexuality to their parents; that number is reduced to a mere 3 percent if they are religious.
“From now on,” she told her son. “Mama’s got your back.” Today, Mama Tammye has also become a ‘spiritual mother’ to Guilbeaux and considers providing “security, safety, warmth and love” to Jess one of her maternal duties. (You can find Mama Tammye’s full letter to religious parents struggling to accept their children in the last page of this issue.)
Organized religions, namely Christianity, are amongst the biggest culprits of perpetuating homophobia in this country: only 36 percent of Evangelical Christians believe that homosexuality should be accepted, compared to 61 percent of the general U.S. population, according to the Pew Research Center.
And so, although no one can be certain of where this new fork in the road will go, there is a semblance of comfort in knowing that the journey is being undertaken with love: with those who see us and who want to get to know us, who will not condemn us for how we feel or who we love, who will not cast judgement when we stumble, because stumble we will, or throw doctrines that strip us of our humanity.
All of this makes the story of Tammye Hicks, one of the straight “Heroes” of the show, that much more extraordinary. Mama Tammye, as she is affectionately known, has become a staple of Guilbeaux’s chosen family. She is the mother of Myles, a gay black man who was featured in the second season of the series. Mama Tammye is a devout Christian who initially rejected Myles but learned to love and accept him.
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