Mary Griffith is a devout Christian who raises her four children—Ed, Bobby, Joy, and Nancy—according to the
evangelical teachings of her local
Presbyterian church in the late 1970s and early 1980s in
Walnut Creek, California. On the day of his grandmother's birthday party, Bobby is uncomfortable when his family makes homophobic jokes and comments. When his sister gives their grandmother a journal but is rebuked, she lets Bobby have it. He often writes in it to vent about his feelings of anxiety and depression. Later, when kissing his girlfriend, Bobby becomes uncomfortable when she suggests having sex and apologetically breaks up with her. He enters a local
gay bar but becomes flustered and leaves. On his way out, he sees the local
Metropolitan Community Church across the street. When he arrives home, he tells Mary he was at church. Ed finds Bobby in the aftermath of a suicide attempt with an
Aspirin overdose. Bobby confides in him that he is
gay and begs him not to tell Mary. Ed, out of concern for Bobby, tells Mary anyway, who is shaken but confident that willpower and faith will help Bobby. She takes him to a conversion therapist who treats him coldly and tells Mary and her husband Robert that homosexuality is the result of inadequate parenting. She tells Bobby to pray harder, seeks solace in church activities, and advises Mary to arrange bonding between Bobby and Robert. While on a camping trip with Ed and Robert, Bobby explains that he wants to become a writer, which his father dismisses as unrealistic. Desperate for Mary's approval, Bobby does what is asked of him, but, through it all, the homophobia in his environment and church, coupled with Mary's embarrassment of him in public, cause him to grow increasingly withdrawn and depressed. Bobby's father and siblings slowly become less uncomfortable with his sexuality, but Mary believes God can cure him. He spends time away from his family by going to
Portland, Oregon, in the summer to visit his cousin Jeanette, who is accepting of his sexual orientation and tries to help him realize that his mother will never change. She takes him to a gay bar, where he meets a man named David, and the two of them date throughout the summer. David tells Bobby that his parents eventually became accepting of his sexuality and to not give up on trying to win Mary's favor. Despite seeing Bobby's love for David, Mary informs Bobby that she "will not have a gay son". Bobby drops out of high school and moves to Portland. David grows distant from Bobby, which exacerbates his depression and self-loathing. After he sees David leaving the gay bar with another man, he becomes suicidal. Thinking back to his mother's unrepentant homophobia and disownment of him, he free-falls off a bridge onto a highway and into the path of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler, which kills him instantly. His family receives the news the following day and is devastated. At Bobby's funeral, the priest leading the eulogy disrespects Bobby due to his sexuality, and Jeanette later expresses her disgust with Mary. Mary finds Bobby's journal and begins to read it, learning about the emotions he never shared with her. She becomes depressed and begins to question herself and her church's interpretation of
scripture. In search of answers, she becomes acquainted with the reverend of the
Metropolitan Community Church that Bobby attended, who challenges her interpretations of scripture and convinces her to attend a meeting of
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). After several months, Mary loses conviction in her former homophobic beliefs and visits the reverend. It is there that she recalls always having felt that Bobby was different from her other children, even from
conception, and cries with remorse. Having accepted her role in Bobby's death, Mary gives a speech at a local city council meeting supporting a local "gay day" live on television. She recounts the struggles she had coping with Bobby
coming out of the closet and her stubbornness to reevaluate her religious beliefs, which were nothing more than "bigotry" and "dehumanizing slander". She recognizes that Bobby's kind heart was more important than his sexuality and that his suicide was subsequently due to poor parenting. She concludes her speech by urging people to think before they say, voice, or support religious
homophobia because "a child is listening". The measure is rejected, but Mary is undeterred, and the family travels to San Francisco with fellow PFLAG members to walk in the
pride parade, during which she sees a young man observing the parade who reminds her of Bobby. She walks over to him and they embrace. Mary rejoins the parade committed to fighting for gay rights everywhere. ==Cast==