STORY TIME!

I came out to my extended family on our recent trip down South for my newborn cousin's Christening. My family on mum's side is very heavily Catholic and while I wouldn't exactly call them 'homophobes', they're level of tolerance isn't the best. Like, they seem like they don't mind LGBT+ people, but wouldn't know how to handle it if they were related to one (Which they are... have been for a very long time, actually).

So usually when I go down there I put on a smile and go along with all the comments of 'So you found yourself a girlfriend yet?' or 'When are you gonna bring home a nice girl?'. However over the last few years I've noticed that my willingness to go along with those comments, which make me quite uncomfortable, has pretty much deteriorated.

So Sunday lunch, I'm sitting across from my Grandpa and he asks me;
"So, you chasing after any girl right now?". Almost immediately and without thought I blurted out,
"No, I don't chase after girls". There were a couple of uneasy stares; relatives trying to figure out what I was trying to say (Though if I'm being honest they knew EXACTLY what I was trying to say). My grandfather just laughs it off and obliviously retorts with,
"I see! They chase after you then?". Old me would have just smiled and nodded and left it at that; but your boy wasn't having any of that shit.
"No Grandpa," I said, "I like men. I am gay". Let me tell you, I've never bring more proud to bring an entire table to stunned silence in my life. My parents, who already knew and have supported me for years, are just sitting there going on with a conversation because it's old news to them and they couldn't care less who I date (gender wise). My Grandpa is silent, not really knowing what to say, and my Grandma is trying to change the subject like;

[img]https://m.popkey.co/c14d26/b0q49.gif[/img]

The rest of the lunch was adequately awkward but all things considered, I think they took it pretty well. To be honest though, I don't really care how they took it. I only see them once a year for a couple hours anyway. But yeah, that was my weekend/coming out to the rest of my family story.