6. "I'm a 24-year-old lesbian and came out to my dad just three weeks ago. (Mom and brother knew all along and were supportive immediately — my parents have been divorced 20 years). He's a traditional man, grew up with three brothers on a farm in a small town in middle Tennessee. I just asked him to sit down and talk with me for a second."
"At first he didn't believe me because according to him I 'don't look gay.' After convincing him that I'm serious, big macho fad started crying. I expected anger or disgust, but he just cried.
I crushed his dreams of me having a family of my own husband and kids.He said, 'I just wanted you to get married and have kids.' I said I can still do all those things. He said, 'Yeah... but not the normal way.' He's right. I guess it's not the normal way. His reaction had little to do with my sexuality, and everything to do with this vision he had for me and my future. Anyway, we talked a week later and he said he'll love and support me no matter what. I knew this already, but it was nice to hear."
11. "I accidentally outed myself. After my freshman year of high school, my parents bought me a computer. I had kept my grades up so they thought I deserved it. At about this same time, they upgraded their internet from dial-up to broadband. So, obviously, as a young man with a burgeoning sexuality, I googled various gay images and videos — I had a whole internet at my fingertips after all. But I was naive. I thought I had security and privacy. I thought I covered my tracks. But I was stupid."
"My mom and I watched funny videos on my computer one day. The next day, while I was at work with my dad on a summer job, she decided she wanted to share the funny videos with her friends online, so she needed to get on my computer to find them. My Google search bar was left completely intact from the previous nights escapades. My dad received a phone call, and a nervous conversation later, my mom knew I was gay. Dad and I quit work early that day and went home to talk it over. Luckily, my parents accepted it (although mom was afraid that she accidentally could have said something wrong at some point but I assured her she hadn't)."
12. "I was 17, in my last year of school. Little sister was in first year of the same school, so she heard plenty about me. She was in the middle of being screamed at by our mother for stealing, cheating in school, and drinking, and decided that screaming back "Well at least I'm not gay like him!" would be a good way to divert attention. Sadly, she was actually right."
"So yeah, I didn't get to come out so much as was outed. (And was then assumed gay until I left, because according to my mother, bisexuals are just whor*s and don't really exist.)"
13. "I'm straight, but I have a friend who was outed in the most spectacular fashion I can imagine. He was in college, living at home. He told his parents he was going to work at Ruby Tuesday one afternoon. Something came up at home, I forget what, and they tried calling him at work. The restaurant said he wasn't working that day. So they flipped out, wondering where the hell he was."
"His cell phone was turned off. So his sister logs into his computer and finds an email saying he's meeting some people at a club tonight. The family loads into the minivan to go find him. This club, unknown to them, caters to the LGBTQ crowd.
They walked into the club, and there he is, on a runway, dancing in full drag. His family was stunned, to say the least. Happy ending, though: they're totally cool with it now. I think they were more pissed about the lying to them than anything."
—[deleted]
17. "I've always known I was gay, but didn't really accept it until I was 13, when Matthew Shepard was killed. I remember my father saying, 'Those boys went easy on him, I would of set his f****t ass on fire.' My father had never said anything like that before (the country had never dealt with anything like it before) and instead of telling him right then and there, I was a coward and agreed with him."
"I felt terrible. This young man was tortured and killed for being just like me, and I felt awful for cheering his death out of fear of what my dad would say/do. Every time the news talked about him, his parents, the men who did it, I would begin crying. My mom became concerned and asked if I wanted to talk. I crumbled. She thought I was just upset over how he died and when I said, 'Not how, why' she stiffened and asked what I meant. I told her I was gay and she (in shock I guess) said nothing and left the room. My father asked me to talk with him a few hours later, and I was already prepared to get kicked out.
We sat outside on the deck and he immediately begins crying. Apologizing for what he had said about gays and Matthew Shepard. He told me how he loved me so much and his biggest fear is that someone would hurt or kill me for being gay. He said nothing would ever make him not love me and that I should be open and honest, for Matthew. Just 48 hours prior, he didn't care about a death on the Wyoming prairie. Now, he was telling me to be proud of myself, to stand up and fight for myself and my community, to be happy with myself.
My mother (old world Polish) isn't really OK with it nor is she against it. She doesn't talk about it or acknowledge it. Thirteen years later, my father is still my biggest supporter. In a way, he got the son he always wanted. We fix cars, fish, go hunting, are fanatics about Chicago sports, and talk about women and how they drive you nuts. He's active in PFLAG and the HRC, which is something I never expected.
It really does get better."
—[deleted]
