cover of episode 824: Family Meeting

824: Family Meeting

2024/2/25
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This American Life

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Brian LeBaron, a Mormon living in Mexico, held a family meeting to prepare his children for the potential backlash after his 17-year-old son, Macario, publicly came out as gay. The meeting aimed to educate the younger children about homosexuality and warn them about potential mean reactions from their community. Surprisingly, the anticipated backlash didn't occur, with the school implementing a no-discussion rule about Macario and the community largely treating him the same.
  • Macario came out as gay on Instagram.
  • The LeBaron family is Mormon and lives in a fundamentalist community in Mexico.
  • Brian LeBaron held a family meeting to prepare his children for potential backlash.
  • The school implemented a rule against discussing Macario's coming out.
  • The community largely continued to treat Macario the same.

Shownotes Transcript

Your mother and I have something we want to talk with you about.

  • Prologue: A family sits down to discuss one thing. But then the true purpose of the meeting emerges. (9 ½ minutes)
  • Act One: For one kibbutz-dwelling family in Israel, the decision of where to land after the October 7th attacks goes back and forth… and back… and forth. (28 minutes)
  • Act One: For one kibbutz-dwelling family in Israel, the decision of where to land after the October 7th attacks goes back and forth… and back… and forth. (28 minutes)
  • Act Two: An excerpt from “Belles Lettres," a short story by Nafissa Thompson-Spires from her book Heads of the Colored People, performed by actors Erika Alexander and Eisa Davis with a cameo from our colleague Alvin Melathe. (14 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org)