We asked the Latinos of BuzzFeed Community to tell us their heartwarming coming-out story. Here are some of the beautiful responses we received:
1. The date that never happened:
"I recently came out to my dad by telling him that I had a date with a female coworker from my summer job. He ended up caring more about the potential drama it could cause at work rather than the fact that I was going on a date with someone of the same gender.
Fun fact: The date didn’t even end up happening!"
Submitted by yoelicuevasrios
2. The vegetarian coincidence:
"I was getting involved in national literature on how to work with LBGBTQIQA populations and realized that I wanted to talk to my mom about this before she found out elsewhere.
I sat with her and said that I’m bisexual, and she asked, “Okay, but can you try for a guy?” I explained that it didn’t work that way and let her know to ask me if she had any questions.
A week later she comes to me and asks, “Why are gay people vegetarian?” I told her “Gay people aren’t…” and as I thought about it I realized that, at the time, myself and all of my queer friends were vegetarian. I laughed and told her that it’s not a “gay rule” to be vegetarian, it was just an odd coincidence."
Submitted by margaritamariam
3. The after school confession:
"One day when my mom was driving me home from school, I gathered all the courage that I had in my little preteen soul and uttered the words, 'Mom. I’m bisexual.' She just said that I was confused, but that didn’t make sense. I’M confused? My mom is a lesbian!"
Submitted by Anonymous
4. The search history reveal:
"I always thought that I would just write my parents a letter when I was 18 and then run away to NYC, but my coming out ended up happening completely by accident. Long story short, my parents checked my internet history when I was 13 and found what sites I had been visiting.
They’re kind of old-fashioned and have values that very much reflect their upbringing in El Salvador, so they didn’t take it all that well in the beginning. For years, we didn’t really talk about or acknowledge my sexuality. Then things changed when I was around 17 and my heart got broken.
The only people that I could talk to were my friends and my parents, so my search for love and comfort made it so that I HAD to talk to my parents. Eventually we all became more comfortable talking about it and before I knew it, my parents were asking if they could march at Gay Prides with me. They are now very proud of the fact that they have a gay son, I think they have a lot more fun with me."
Submitted by Curly Velasquez
5. The selective acceptance:
"I’m bisexual and have a pretty accepting family, so I’ve never really felt the need to come out. Although my parents have definitely hinted at it and told me, 'You know we love you no matter what. It doesn’t matter what your abuela thinks.' My abuela is really religious and doesn’t know."
Submitted by arianai41e5ffe84
6. The sibling squabble:
"I had been crying about how my sister had chosen her BFF/my ex-girlfriend after we broke up. My mom found me and wanted to know what happened, so I told her that my sister had chosen her BFF over me in an argument. She called my sister, started yelling at her, and my sister told our mom to ask me exactly what it was that we had fought about.
I started sobbing and managed to gasp out, “Mom, I’m gay.” She had been hugging me and asked, “So what?” At that point my dad, who had been wisely hiding away, came out of his room and asked why I was crying. I came out to him and he also asked, “So what?”
It’s been almost ten years since that moment and it still makes me feel so ridiculously happy and loved."
Submitted by danielaf4
7. The Facebook post:
"I was scared to come out, never having seen this intersecting identity (being gay and Latino) portrayed in the media. I also have an aunt who is trans that was disowned by her mom.
That being said, I came out at 15 in a Facebook post. I’m still not sure how my mom found out, since she doesn’t have a Facebook account. She gave me the whole “I still love you no matter what, I kind of knew, and use protection” speech. I don’t take that sort of privilege lightly, I know that a lot of queer youth are disowned and homeless. Now we have a closer relationship where we also talk about hot guys."
Submitted by mawio
8. The important dad question:
"I was a junior in college and had been dating my girlfriend for two months. Before speaking to my mom, I was crying and pacing endlessly trying to convince myself that nothing bad was going to happen.
I sat next to my mom with tears in my eyes and she exclaimed, “Mija, you better not have dropped out of school!” I laughed and blurted out, “No mom, I’m gay and I have a girlfriend!” We both cried and laughed for about five minutes, then the next night I was more at ease and told my dad, who responded with, “I don’t care who you love, as long as you’re happy. But can she cook?”
Now it’s four years later and we’re engaged, living in North Texas, and have all of the love and support from both of our families."
Submitted by angelam44d13c495
9. And finally, the mom who knew all along:
"I decided that I was going to tell my mom over dinner. Before the meal, I had booked a week in a motel close to my work and had two suitcases ready, just in case she kicked me out.
At dinner I was so nervous, I couldn’t eat or talk. She finished her meal and I hadn’t told her, but she wanted a pancito dulce con café. During dessert she asked me what was going on and I couldn’t hold it in anymore, I started crying. I held her hand, told her that I love her, that she’s everything to me, and that I was sorry. She smiled and hugged me, then I whispered in between sobs, "I’m gay." She hugged me harder, held my hand, and told me that she loves me just the way I am.
After I caught my breath, I laughed and asked her how she knew I was gay. She said she knew ever since I was three years old and would sing Alejandra Guzman and Paulina Rubio songs out loud with choreography and everything. We both laughed and then she asked me if I thought the waiter at the restaurant was cute.
That was one of the greatest days of my life."
Submitted by Anonymous
This post has been edited and condensed for clarity.