Omigosh, "My dad will sing." Fantastic.

P.S. Cameron.

I have no idea how to respond to that. Cried for 5 years? That made me doubt supporting gay anything for about 3 seconds. Any decision that causes that much suffering is a heavy lift to support.

Yes, fix the typo in her name, please. But thanks for sharing.

@ GhostDog: Can you imagine the lifetime of suffering that people do in the closet? The tears that she cried for not being accepted? And her dad got over it. People don't "get over" being gay. Would you not support someone being black or having freckles?

Meanwhile, another breakthrough in the rights of adult male heterosexuals...

James Woods, 66, Debuts New Girlfriend Kristen Bauguess, 20

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/james-woods-66…

Ok, Spyenna. You and the other Mutilators can let loose now.
Let's hear the hate, hypocrites.

@2 Ah the Stranger doesn't give a shit about comedy, why would you think they'd give a shit about the names of the people who perform comedy?

@5

Clearly this is in the category of "what answer sucks less". I see what you are saying but at the same time the level of suffering that would require tears every time you talk to someone for half a decade is pretty massive. As in, I can't think of anything in my life to equate it to, even in theory, without invoking Godwin's Law.

I'm not saying she should have stayed in the closet, I'm saying that the essay failed if it was trying to be anything other than, "coming out prevented marginally less suffering than it caused".

Before I read this in my head it was , "well, the people who really freak out when someone comes out are usually fundamentalist dicks anyhow so it really is pretty black and white". I stand very much corrected.

Name typo fixed, thanks Slog tippers!

this is really beautiful, thanks.

GhostDog - but part of the story of "it gets better" is that there are fewer and fewer parents like that - good, loving parents who can't deal with the fact that their kid is gay. And many things have helped and help change that - the ability to point your mom to "Ellen and Portia" for example. The increasing visibility of gay folks everywhere - including in the White House (as staff), including in Congress. Now there's another one - that you can get officially, fully and legally get married just like your parent's friends' straight kids. And those things make it better not just for the gay kids, but also for their confused - but loving - parents.

"My dad will sing." Damn, that got me.

The problem isn't that the essayist was gay the problem was her father's homophobia. Parents are often unhappy about their kids choices but that doesn't mean kids shouldn't make those choices.

And honestly I get the feeling a lot of those may have been an attempt at manipulation then tears from actual pain.