Mary Gowans

The latest news about Mary Gowans, a North Carolina native that became the center of a media firestorm after ordering her 12-year-old son to 'beat the gay away' from her elder son, who she suspected of being gay. A mother in the rural town is facing misdemeanor child abuse charges after the act, which she purportedly believes would make the older child heterosexual. Mary Gowans claimed she did this after learning her son visited the house of a gay man. Officials have debated whether or not the order be considered a hate crime.