I'm waiting until October 11th (Coming out day) to officially come out to the remaining friends that I haven't come out to yet. However, I'm still keeping it quiet from my family. I just recently joined my school's GSA, and here were my family members' responses: Sister: Why on earth would you join that? You're not gay. Mom: Wow, that's such an awesome club! (After I explained that one of the reason why they let straight people into it is so closeted gay people can still join) Dad: That's good and all, but the LGBTQIBRWIBH+=- or whatever they call it now is going way overboard. It was better when it was juts gay and straight. My mom and my sister are liberal and my dad is conservative. My mom definitely supports LGBT rights and all that, but what about when her daughter turns out to be one of those people? I don't know how she'll react.. My sister is supportive of the LGBT community mainly because I spent hours conditioning her into it, but I think she does genuinely support it now. My dad, while he is conservative, is a very left-leaning conservative. I honestly think he is just keeping the label because that's what he grew up as. He is pretty anti-religion, seeeeems to support LGBT right (to an extent, though), and seems to always be in favor of the democrat candidates more than the republican. Extended family: No nonononono no non onon nono. My dad's side of the family is extreeemly religious (baptist Christian) and do NOT support LGBT rights whatsoever. The other side seems fine with it but I don't want them to have to worry about anything like this. So... does anyone have a) any advice on how to go about coming out to them? or b) any stories about their coming outs to family?
Hey Darsch Heille. Congratulations coming out to the rest of your friends. :icon_redf That takes a lot of courage! Now you have a support net in place for when/if you decide to come out to your family. Parents can be the hardest because it is hard to talk to parents about sexuality in the first place, let alone tell them that you are not heterosexual. Strong religious and conservative viewpoints can make it even harder. But stay strong and be sure to come out at your own pace, whatever makes you most comfortable. And remember that if someone has a problem with your sexuality, it is THEIR problem, NOT yours. You are you. Don't let anyone reflect their issues/problems/prejudices back on you; don't allow them to make you feel guilty for just being you! A couple of things I can suggest, if you have private access to the internet (so that your family members won't accidently find out) is checking out Coming Out videos on YouTube. There are a ton of them where people describe their coming out experiences to friends and family members and some even have recorded them "Live." I know there are some that deal with devout religious families and one where a Baptist minister speaks out about accepting his gay son. Also, on the religious side, you might want to Google the "Not All Like That" Christians Project website.
