Sally Field on Portraying a Mom Who Supports Her Gay Son in … – KAKE

On the big screen, she’s starred as the fierce mother to Julia Roberts’s terminal Shelby in Steel Magnolias, the loving, supportive mother to Tom Hanks’s Forrest in Forrest Gump, and as an avenging mom in Not Without My Daughter and the thriller An Eye for an Eye. On TV, she won an Emmy for her portrayal of Abby’s (Maura Tierney) schizophrenic mom on ER and another for starring as a loving mom (Nora Walker) to a gay son played by Matthew Rhys on Brothers and Sisters at a time when gay characters on prime time were rare. In life, Field is an outspoken equality activist for all marginalized groups, and along with her son Sam Greisman, who is gay, she’s been particularly outspoken about pushing to pass the Equality Act, which would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and more.