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    The CBS Sunday morning show broadcast a segment on songwriter and performer Rory Feek. He performed with his late wife, Joey. Joey died of cancer in 2016. The segment was about some of the challenges he's facing as a single dad and about performing again without his wife.
   During the interview, he talked about a challenge that happened a few days after Joey died. He could tell that his daughter, Hope, was bothered by something. He encouraged her to talk to him about it. What happened was that she told him that she is a lesbian and in love with a woman. Here is a quote from the interview. "Rory added, 'She's asking me, 'Are you still gonna love me?' And my first reaction, honestly, was, 'I don't think so.'" The reason for this reaction was that his conservative Christian faith teaches that homosexuality is wrong. As the interview went on he talked about how it is his job to love his daughters regardless of their choices and to love them unconditionally.
   The segment was posted on Facebook. I read some of the comments on the post. Many of them were positive. There were a few that weren't. There was definitely outrage at the fact that he said he couldn't love his daughter because she is lesbian. Some of them went on to attack him and also take a swipe at Christians in general.
   I was a little miffed, but at the same time, a bit amused. Here was a group of people who were upset by his initial reaction to this confession from his daughter and they are making judgments as narrow as his initial judgment was. The fact that he wasn't immediately open and welcoming of this situation was cause for outrage. What kind of man and father is he that he would say he couldn't love his daughter?
  Apparently, no one thought to put the conversation into context. A few days after his wife lost her battle to a disease that was killing her by inches for several months, his daughter comes out to him. His Christian faith, something that is very important to him and is the one thing that is holding him together in the face of losing his life partner, is being challenged. His first reaction is understandable.
  I don't think it is unreasonable to need time to come to terms in a situation like this. This is a big adjustment. When a child tells a parent that they've made a life-altering choice like coming out as gay or transitioning to the opposite gender to name a couple, it's a shock. The parents need time to come to terms with the fact that the expectations or hopes they may have had for their child might not happen. The life they envisioned for that child is not the life that child will be leading. Coming to terms with this takes time.
  I applaud Mr. Feek for his honesty. It takes a lot of courage to say what he said. I commend him for coming to terms with it and coming to a place where he can love his daughter, even if he doesn't agree with her actions. He may not understand, but he doesn't have to. He accepts her because she is his daughter and he loves her and cares about her. That's more than many people have.
  Shame on those who judge him for his initial reaction. Instead of focusing in on that, look at where he is now. I marvel at how people who consider themselves to be inclusive and non-judgemental can be so judgemental of those who aren't like them. They are just as narrow as those they accuse of bigotry.