Hollywood actress Camryn Manheim took the stage at the Human Rights Campaign's national dinner to complain — to a cheering room — that despite her best efforts, her son turned out heterosexual, and ordinary Americans are left asking when a child's sexuality became a mother's status accessory.

The Sept. 26 gala, a flagship fundraiser for America's largest LGBT lobbying group, was supposed to honor Manheim's friend Marcia Gay Harden with the Ally for Equality Award. Instead, Manheim turned the podium into a confessional about her disappointment that her 25-year-old son, Milo, is straight.

"She has three remarkable children who all align with the LGBTQ+ community, which is another thing that deeply irritates me about her, because I always wanted a gay son," Manheim said of Harden, according to the New York Post.

She kept going. "I love that relationship between gay sons and their mothers," Manheim told the crowd. "I wanted to be the picket sign-holding mom who would beat the s— out of somebody for her kid. I mean, let's just admit it, gay sons are the best, right? Right!"

Then came the details that turned a bad speech into a revealing one. Manheim boasted that she has "photographs of my son in high heels, in full drag," that he "knows every word to every musical ever written," and that she believed she "had this f—ing thing locked up" — only for Milo to turn out "the only straight guy in his entire musical theater company."

When Harden's son came out, Manheim said her reaction was: "Oh my God, you are so f—ing lucky!" She also claimed Harden received an Amazon delivery of "thigh-high patent leather boots, like kinky boots" — and assumed her friend was "just showing off."

The Daily Caller framed the speech as Manheim admitting she "tried forcing her straight son gay." The Post, more restrained, called it a "performative rant" that "fueled online backlash." The difference matters: Manheim never used the word "force," but she did describe dressing her child in drag and openly envying another mother's gay children as though sexual orientation were a prize. The crowd roared its approval either way.

Milo Manheim is an actor best known for starring in Disney Channel's "Zombies" franchise and placing second on Season 27 of "Dancing with the Stars." He played Joseph in the 2023 musical "Journey to Bethlehem." He is, by his mother's disappointed admission, heterosexual.

The Human Rights Campaign, founded in 1980 by gay rights lobbyist Steve Endean, boasts 4 million members and uses its dinner circuit — more than 30 events reaching 20,000 people annually — to elevate LGBT candidates, solicit corporate sponsorships, and auction donations. The organization describes itself as dedicated to "engaging and mobilizing millions of pro-equality voters." In practice, it is the kind of establishment institution that throws a black-tie gala where a mother complains her son isn't gay enough — and gets applause, not gasps.

Online, the backlash was swift. "How do any straight males survive mothers like this?" wrote commentator Peachy Keenan. "These people are mentally ill. They need to be institutionalized or thrown in prison for trying to groom children," said Andy Froemel, per the Post.

The open question is not whether Manheim has the right to say what she said — she does, and the First Amendment doesn't end at a gala dais. The question is why the country's largest LGBT organization rewarded it with cheers instead of silence, and why any parent would treat a child's sexuality as a credential to brandish before donors.