this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
67 points (93.5% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26288 readers
1298 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

My actual parents, or hypothetical parents?

My real ones, it would be fine. They've always backed me being active with gay rights issues going back to the eighties. They had no issues with my openly gay friends. They even let two of those friends live with us for a while. So, if it turned out they were gay the entire time, it might be a bit surprising that it took so long to come out to me, when I'm the extended family's established "safe out" person; I'm the one the people in the family come to for that because I've been very open about support.

Hypothetically, if it weren't my actual parents, it would really depend on the circumstances how I would show support. Someone coming out to you is a big deal. They'll have individual needs and hopes from the decision, so navigating that without a history to pull from for predicting those needs and hopes can be thorny.

Like, some folks want the support to be super casual, like "Yeah? Cool, what's for dinner?". Others might need hugs and reassurance, or calm verbal recognition, or even celebration. It could be anything; there's some folks that want/need it to be a little opposed or otherwise rocky because they can't believe, in their hearts, that it's possible for it to go smoothly. Without a little "drama", they stay stressed. Mind you, I'm not really able to do real drama, though I can fake being upset it didn't happen sooner as long as I can make it lighthearted and a little jokey.

Seriously, anyone reading this far, be the person that people come out to early on in their process of coming out. It's such a beautiful thing to be part of.