19 YO Gay Man Wonders If He Made Right Decision About Family Reunion – Instinct Magazine

August 22, 2021 News Editor

For us in the LGBTQ community, coming out can be a scary time. Even though this is 2021 and views on being anything but heterosexual have changed considerably, there are still those that will react negatively to our coming outs. Case in point, Reddit user linenez talks about how his family disowned him after they found out he was gay.

Posting his story in the Sub-Reddit, Am I the Asshole, linenez explains at the age of 17 his parents kicked him out of their house and two years later when meeting up with his parents, his dad won’t speak to him, and his mom acted like the past two years didn’t happen. Linenez goes on to explain:

It was really odd and since she was the one who contacted me I was expecting her to apologize, but she didn’t want to bring it up or talk about what happened. It really stung and I was fighting back tears the whole time.

Despite all of that, linenez stayed in contact with his parents, and in a different visit with his mom, he finds out she was planning a family reunion with distant relatives. Linenez further elaborates:

This made me extremely uncomfortable for the reason that these people said some really disturbing stuff about me after I was outed, things I’d rather not talk about.

I told my mom I don’t want to be around them and that I still don’t forgive her for what she did, I also reminded her that she has yet to apologize to me. This made her angry, she said that I need to forget about what happened and forgive them for their ignorance because they’re my family. I told her that I won’t be attending the reunion, and until she properly apologizes to me I won’t be talking to her anymore.

I thought that I wasn’t the asshole, but my dad and siblings are on my mom’s side, they think I should let it go and forgive them. I went to my friends for reassurance but they agree that I’m being too harsh on them and said I should attend the reunion anyway because they’re my family and family is important. I’m really hurt right now and don’t know what to think.

An overwhelming majority of Redditors deemed linenez “Not the asshole” and told him that they may be his blood but they abandoned him. Most suggested his decision to not go to the reunion was the right decision.