Alike's Parents...SPOILER!!!
I am grateful of the fact that, if I were gay, my mother and stepfather would be very supportive. My biological father is another story, but I wasn't raised by him and don't talk to him all that much today, anyway. He would be the complete opposite of supportive. He's a bigot, too, but that's a whole different discussion.
Although Alike's father definitely is uncomfortable with who she is, I think he would still be there for her. Her mother, on the other hand, is completely unsupportive and downright rude.
I know that there are many parents that are like Alike's mother, and I can't imagine what it would be like to be gay and have parents like her mother. I can understand why depression is rampant for teen gays and lesbians. Parents are the most important people in a teen's life, and for their parents to basically disown them must be an absolutely awful feeling. I know some parents finally come to "accept" them, but the hurt will always be there.
If I ever have children, though I doubt I will being single at 42, and they are gay, a lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, I will be completely supportive and a loving parent. I'm not stupid enough to think that it's a choice or a phase. It's who they are, and there is NOTHING wrong with being who you are.
Hopefully, as the years go on, there will be less and less parents that are still living in the stone age and are disgusted with their gay or lesbian children for what they perceive as a choice. Sometimes even parents need to grow up.
The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?