Okay everyone. I'm totally laying my personal stuff on the line here but this has really been buggin' me. My folks are coming to visit and they will be staying with me. Now, I am a huge advocate of being open, honest to yourself and everyone around you, and doing my best to help people get rid of those closet doors. However, the only two people in the world whom I've never come out to are my parents. They are both in their late 70's. They are both very Catholic. And they are very homophobic. Now, my problem is this. I'm not afraid to tell them, I don't think they will love me any less, or boot me out of the family. But I see what my gay cousins who have come out have gone through. My one cousin's mom ended up in the hospital because she literally willed herself sick over it. My parents always talk about what a terrible person he is for putting her through that and they still, after 10 years, refer to his husband as "that man". If I tell them, I forsee it as something that will cause them misery for the rest of thier lives. I know it is their hang-up and not mine. I feel no shame for who I am nor the things I have done (even the really kinky ones, heh heh). But would it really help anything to tell them? Am I being more of a disservice to myself and my community? Or am I just saving them from some self-inflicted anguish? I would very much like to hear what you all have to say on this subject. Thanks.
