Mylinda and Matthew Mason in the mid-1990s, during much happier and less complicated times. Photos: Cayce Clifford

An Anti-Gay Crusader and Her Gay Son Were Making It Work. Then Came Trump.

A portrait of a modern family undone by the political zeitgeist

He may have been just 16, a sheltered bookworm from a conservative evangelical family, but when it came to public speaking, Matthew Mason had the poise of a veteran statesman. Captured on video addressing an appreciative crowd at a 2007 anti-abortion banquet at Chico State, he wears a black suit and wire-rimmed glasses. He paces the stage with practiced confidence, hitting his marks, making good eye contact, nailing his jokes, and then pausing with an easy grin to wait for the applause to subside. He has a story to tell, and he delivers it flawlessly.

It begins in 1990, when an 18-year-old former runaway realized she’d become pregnant for the third time. The young woman had already had one abortion and given birth to one child. Knowing she couldn’t handle another infant, she visited a local clinic to terminate the pregnancy. She avoided the protesters perennially camped outside, ignoring their shrill cries (“Mommy, please don’t kill me!”). But as she lay on the examination table, the teenager began to have doubts. She asked for a look at the ultrasound screen, and the technician reluctantly agreed. The ghostlike image stirred something in her. Even at less than eight weeks, she thought she…