Yesterday I was sitting at lunch browsing Facebook and up popped a picture of my brother in full drag. Never before had I suspected him of cross dressing. He is married with 3 kids. My initial response was shock, then fear. The other half of the story is that I myself am married and gay with 3 kids. Only my wife and a few friends know. All I could think about was how hard this was for him and his family. I did not know if he meant to post that on facebook, or if it was a joke. I immediately called my wife and said we had to talk to them. She called his wife and I called him. My sister-in-law simply said this would be a long day. My brother tried to pass it off as a halloween joke that was photoshopped. I told him that either way it is ok with me and to call if he needed someone to talk to. Well, my wife saw what I told him and she realized that if he believed I was strait that would seem like sarcasim and not taken seriously and reaching out for support. So we put it all on the line and my wife tole his wife there was a reason she was asking abou the picture, and that was that I liked men and know what it is like to be in the closet as well. Turns out he had been dressing for the past four years. Going out in public and such. My sister-in-law was very relived she finally had someone to talk to. She passed on to my brother that I was gay and he texted asking if we could meet for drinks and talk. I have a lot of questions for him and I am sure he has a lot of questions for me. This is going to be a long awkward conversation between two brothers who after 40 years are both coming out of the closet together.
This is pretty cool! Glad to see you all are so open with each other. Hopefully everything turns out for the best.
Good job for you both. I'm thankful my brother is at least accepting even if he's never seen me in person.
Wow. You took a huge risk, and it totally paid off. This is how it's done, folks. Making yourself that vulnerable takes quite a bit of courage, but it was absolutely the right thing to do to help your brother and his wife. Yes, it will be a little awkward at first, but I think you'll find it will bring both of you a lot closer, and that's an excellent development.
Maybe looking at the first brochure might help... http://emptyclosets.com/forum/gender-identity-expression/156085-i-just-im-kind-scared.html#4 (*hug*)
So appearently his wife never passed along the fact I was gay. So now I was really having to come out to him. Then he drops on me that he was transgender but 100% straight. Not to assume that if you are trans you are also gay, but the likelyhood is a lot higher. So here I am completely nervous and early in our meeting I tell him that I personally knew what it like to be in the closet because I was not exactly straight myself. Yea, he didn't even bat an eye and said he has known for years... My first coming out to a close family member and that is all I get. I wish he would have told me years ago he knew. I am still not sure how he knew, all he said was some stuff he saw on my computer when I was living at my mom's house years ago. Anyways, it feels GREAT to be out to two more people.
This is pretty cool! Glad to see you all are so open with each other. hopefully everything will be alright.
