Texas group Mama Bears supports moms of LGBTQ+ kids
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Liz Dyer, right, has spent plenty of time at the Capitol. Photo: Courtesy of Liz Dyer
A private Facebook group started in North Texas for the mothers of LGBTQ+ kids has grown to include tens of thousands of moms around the world — and now it's getting national attention.
Driving the news: A documentary airing this month on PBS spotlights several members of Mama Bears, a support group started by an Evangelical Christian mother in Coppell.
Why it matters: Liz Dyer, the founder of Mama Bears, tells Axios she hopes the group can help make the world a "kinder, safer, more loving place for all LGBTQ+ people."
What's happening: With more than 30,000 members, many in Texas, the group connects families dealing with the same types of issues, lobbies against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and raises funds for charities with similar interests.
- Some moms from the group have also offered to stand in for less supportive parents at weddings and graduation ceremonies.
Context: Groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, the Liberty Counsel and the American Principles Project are behind a multimillion-dollar effort targeting LGBTQ+ rights through "parents' rights" bills.
- The groups have provided templates and support for similarly worded bills that seek to ban minors from attending drag shows, prevent transgender kids from receiving gender-affirming care, and restrict their participation in high school sports.
Background: Dyer, who used to lead a women's ministry at a Southern Baptist church, tells Axios that when her son came out in college, their family wasn't initially affirming. "We had been rooted in a conservative Christian community," she says.
- "We responded out of fear and ignorance."
- She says it didn't take long to realize that there was nothing in the Bible that spoke to the questions her family had and the situation her son was in.
- A blog she started in 2010 turned into the Facebook group, which has grown into more than 60 Mama Bear chapters spread across the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada.
What they're saying: "What I was finding is that LGBTQ people who were sincerely and wholeheartedly embracing non-affirmative theology, they were depressed, they were anxious, they were isolated," Dyer says.
Between the lines: Not all the moms in the group are Christians. They come from a variety of backgrounds and religions.
- "What we all have in common is that we all wholeheartedly support our kids," Dyer says. "We want them to be healthy, whole and safe."
Worthy of your time: You can stream the PBS documentary here.
- It airs through July 20.