Custodial dad, step beat son for being gay; what happened to the mother? (Georgia)

UNNAMED DAD certainly appears to be custodial. There is mention of a step, but not a word about Mom. There is mention of the son living in the home for 20 years, and of the father raising him.

Everybody is fixated on the homophobic violence in this case.But what is being missed here is the back story. How did this violent, volatile father become the custodial parent? Did Mom die? Is she alive? Did she lose custody to this man?

It's a question that needs to be asked, as violent men are very motivated to get custody. It satisfies both their need to punish/control the mother and have complete access to the child victim.

http://www.designntrend.com/articles/18990/20140905/family-s-horrendous-violent-reaction-son-coming-out-posted-online.htm

Family’s Horrendous, Violent Reaction To Son Coming Out Posted Online

Carrie Weisman , Design & Trend Contributor
Sep, 05, 2014, 11:12 AM

Daniel Ashley Pierce, a 20-year-old From Georgia, came out as gay last October. And while some coming out stories have managed to plant a seed of hope for the future, others aim to destroy it. Unfortunately for Pierce, his story falls in line with the latter.

During Pierce's first attempt at coming out, his father put out an air of indifference, and his stepmother seemed supportive. A few days later, however, things took a turn, and Pierce found himself at the center of what he describes as a "delayed intervention," involving his father, stepmother and grandparents.

He captured the interaction on camera.

Pierce told the Huffington Post, "I wanted to make sure there was evidence in case something happened."

Pierce's video went viral after it was posted by Dan Savage with Seattle's The Strange. The clip, which runs for an excruciating 5 minutes, does not focus on any one individual's face, but it does manage capture the discussion that took place.

The people in the room with Pierce can be heard telling him that sexuality is a choice. When he attempts to dispute that, they use religion as an argument.

A woman, presumably Pierce's grandmother can be heard saying, "No, you can believe that if you want to, but I believe in the word of God, and God creates nobody that way. It's a path that you have chosen to choose... You go by all the scientific stuff you want to. I'm going by the word of God. She goes on to say that since Pierce has "chosen that path" they will no longer support him and he needs to move out because she "will not let people believe that I condone what you do."

Pierce asks his stepmother if he can stay in the house, but she refuses.

"You're full of s**t," she says. "You told me on the phone that you made that choice. You know you wasn't born that way. You know damn good and well you made that choice You know that {your father} has done everything he can to raise you... He didn't need to blame himself."

That's when the conversation turns violent. The camera starts shaking uncontrollable and Pierce can be heard telling a woman to stop hitting him. A man yells, "You're a damn queer." The video ends with the man telling Pierce, "You're a disgrace."

Pierce turned to Facebook to discuss what had happened. He wrote, "What a day... I thought that waking up at 9:48 and being 15 mins late to work was going to be the biggest problem today. But I didn't know that my biggest problem was going to be getting disowned and kicked out of my home of almost twenty years. To add insult to injury my stepmother punched me in the face repeatedly with my grandmother cheering her along. I am still in complete shock and disbelief."

The family members involved in the intervention, which he says was "driven by my grandparents," have not contacted the media, but they left Pierce a voicemail telling him to remove the video of the incident form YouTube. Pierce says he did not contact the police over the altercation.

The footage, which was originally posted by Pierce's friend, has pulled in over 5 million views at the time of this writing. A GoFundMe campaign was set up to help raise money to cover Pierce's living expenses. At of Friday morning, the campaign has brought in $93,715.