I grew up in a strictly Christian home. Both of my father's parents were very involved in the protestant church, my grandmother hosts weekly prayer nights and my grandfather is an administrator at seminary school. To be clear, they hold on to strong beliefs typically held by evangelical republicans, for example, no position for women in church, and a ban on same-sex marriage (two topics mentioned in the Bible that are controversial in the Christian community today).
I am a Christian myself, and I wouldn't call myself an extreme rationalist, however, their religious nagging has brought quite inefficient, unwanted and impractical tendencies and customs into my life. However, I did keep my mouth shut for most of my childhood out of respect, along with the rest of my family. My grandparents are incredibly loving and kind people, however, I could only imagine how tough it must have been for my rationalist father and his two siblings growing up.
You could imagine my family's surprise when my aunt (dad's sister) came out as a lesbian to our family.
That's about 30+ years in the closet. To others, it may seem bizarre, but knowing my grandparents, I probably wouldn't have the courage to come out at all. Shortly after she came out, by announcing the three year anniversary of her and her girlfriend, my grandparents let us all know how they felt: "struggling with the reality of their daughter's lifestyle."
Things in my family have been tense ever since. My family and I have met my aunt's girlfriend. She is quite terrified and timid around my grandparents (obviously) but they try to treat her with respect. If you saw her and my family in a living room, you couldn't tell that they are in a relationship. No PDA, not even hand-holding out of the fear that outcry may arise.
Around a week ago, my aunt announced that she proposed to her girlfriend (after her girlfriend set a personal record at the Boston Marathon!) and she said yes. It took my grandparents about an hour after to let us all know that they will not be attending the wedding because their beliefs don't match up with their daughter's life. My parents are outraged and shocked, and our family is falling apart. I don't know what to make of this situation, so I ask you all:
If you were in my grandparents' situation, would you attend your daughter's wedding? Why or why not?
For those of you who are unaware how the Bible perceives homosexuality, here is a link
I am curious to see what you all think. Thank you for your time.
People go through a grieving process when their image of a loved one changes in a way that they perceive as negative or shocking. That process can be very long. It's possible that your grandparents won't be able to get though enough of that process in time to attend their daughter's wedding, or even at all. And if they don't have it together enough to avoid negative emotional outbursts at the event, it may not be for the best if they attend.
If they made this decision in only an hour, however, I think it would definitely be worth encouraging them to sleep on it. The engagement probably is a shock, even if it should be unsurprising; they may have been holding some rationalizations that underplayed the significance of their daughter's relationship.
Even assuming their views on homosexuality never change (they probably assume that, so assume it for the sake of argument), they may eventually regret missing a significant family event. At some point, if they want to have a good relationship with their daughter, they're going to need to make peace with persistent disagreements. If your aunt is considering raising children, maintaining a good relationship with her (and her partner!) is a prerequisite to having a good relationship with those grandchildren. Given that, your grandparents may want to put some work into getting to a place emotionally where they can be happy attending their daughter's wedding.
(Their views on homosexuality may eventually change, too. But trying to persuade them on ideological grounds is more likely to get them to dig in their heels. The most effective persuasion on those grounds is often passive and long-term. Sometimes emphasizing emotions (e.g. people will be sad and disappointed if they don't attend) can be effective, but that may just remind them of their own negative emotions. Focusing on relationship goals is often a good idea when trying to mediate this sort of conflict.)