Bad newspaper advice

The newspaper advice column Ask Amy writer went on vacation, and started by recycling her favorite advice of all time:

Dear Amy: I recently discovered that my son, who is 17, is a homosexual. ...

He won't listen to reason, and he will not stop being gay. I feel as if he is doing this just to get back at me ...

[Amy replies] Pressuring your son to change his sexuality is wrong. If you cannot learn to accept him as he is, it might be safest for him to live elsewhere.

This is sick advice. Suppose she had gotten this letter:

I recently discovered that my daughter, age 17, is a slut.

She won't listen to me, and has been banged by every guy in town. She says that promiscuous drunken anal sex is who she is, but I think that this is her way of rebelling.

Would it also be wrong for a parent to try to straighten her out? Of course not.

Ask Amy has bad advice nearly every day, but I point to this because she is just reflecting conventional wisdom. Newspapers do not print any common sense on this subject.