My Brokeheart Mountain

In my experience, if you are gay, "coming out of the closet" is either a non-issue, a never-ending saga, or totally out of the question. I have a lot of my friends, who are like Tom C., who are still deep inside the closet for their own personal reasons. Those dear to them have either no idea, or have never given them the opportunity for them to open it up for discussion.

The ball of my coming out started rolling when I was in college, when my third older sister confronted me one day, after having my nanny spy on my late nite goings & comings and received a final report as to who was picking me up and driving me home. I blatantly and swiftly answered her unexpected inquiry. I even surprised myself, since this was the first time in my life that I said the words, "gay" and "boyfriend" within one sentence in reference to myself. And so the never ending saga of coming out started.

Eleven years ago, when I moved to the U.S. with the plan of settling in the East Coast, where my eldest sister and older brother live, I had no choice but to tell them the reason as to why I decided to settle in L.A. instead. After coming out to my two siblings, the last of the family members to receive the news, I knew the hardest part of coming out was behind me and that for any future friendships, my sexual orientation would not be an issue.

Coming out is never easy on either party. I know my family was initially heartbroken. My one and only brother was devastated. I broke his heart when I told him that it was up to him to carry on the family's last name, so he had better have a son once he decided to start his own family. I was comforted to hear from his wife that he said, "Well, what can I do, he is my brother, and I love him.". That positive notion carried me over all these years.

Now, more than a decade later, it was my turn to get my heart broken. This personal blog of mine, which was a means for me to share my life with my family & friends, has inadvertently forced my brother to come out to me as a "Bush-supporting, conservative, right wing, religious right, Republican bigot".
If you're interested in reading what he wrote to me, click HERE.
If you're interested in reading how I responded, please click HERE.
If after reading his letter, you find yourself unperturbed and concur with his ideas, please let me know, so I can decide how to proceed with our relationship.
Thank you.