![ellen degeneres im gay meme ellen degeneres im gay meme](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2019-06/12/14/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-04/sub-buzz-17815-1560362705-1.jpg)
I would not go as far to say he accepts him, because he is really homophobic (due to "religious reasons"), BUT he is now open about telling the family/his significant others. And to put things into perspective, my dad has only JUST NOW started to come to terms with it. My brother h as been out since he left the house to start college (early 2000s)-that's a lot of missed time where I could have had his guidance for my struggles growing up. After he came out, my father would not let me visit my brother without his supervision for fear that my brother would "brainwash me into thinking it was okay to be gay". My mother was the mom who took my brother to the side after he came out and told him that she only wanted him to be happy, despite the potential repercussions from her overbearing husband who was in deep denial over it and could not accept that his son was in a relationship with another man. My mother was the mom who walked me into the boy's section to pick out a pair of swim trunks when I was invited to a pool party one year. My mother was the mom who would smuggle boxers into my dresser drawers when I told her that I didn't feel comfortable wearing girl clothes. Though I did not realize or appreciate it back then, looking back, her support and acceptance was the greatest gift she could have ever given me. My mother, however, was infinitely supportive. I remember that in middle school, it was especially difficult because that is the age where everyone is just starting to come into themselves I guess. I started questioning my gender when I was pretty young. And whenever I would voice that I was not comfortable with fulfilling those his "female" expectations, he would be super distraught and guilt trip me.
![ellen degeneres im gay meme ellen degeneres im gay meme](https://c.tenor.com/XIYFvO7raXsAAAAM/laughing-ellen-degeneres.gif)
In fact, much to his growing dismay, I seemed to shrug off any and all "feminine" paraphernalia in favor for more masculine alternatives. When this dream finally became a reality, he would was so overzealous that he would try to instill those stereotypical female gender roles onto me. So much so, that even before I was born (or was a possibility due to my mom's health) he kept a room in the house with pink wallpaper and told everyone that he would have a girl one day. My sexuality has never earned me his prejudice, as I've only ever been in heterosexual relationship thus far. There were a lot of long phone-call conversations about that. He was SO certain that she was my GF (she wasn't) and this was me coming out. Or the time when I moved into my first apartment with one of my female coworkers whom he had never met. And I think I went into my room, cried, and almost went back up to my college town to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and eat lasagna instead of turkey. For example, I came down for Thanksgiving wearing "boy clothing" and he threw a tantrum and harassed me until I changed-he did not want the rest of the family seeing me dressed like that. So he gets REALLY antsy when his notion of what he perceives to be "normal" is challenged. And he's deluded himself into believing (to a very impressive degree) that I am. Which is really stressful because I've never really. He believes me to be his "normal, trophy" child. However, because of my brother's situation, my father has been REALLY overbearing with me. My brother and I are the proverbial "black sheeps" of the family, so a lot of my support comes from him and his boyfriend who I love dearly.
![ellen degeneres im gay meme ellen degeneres im gay meme](https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/the-ellen-degeneres-show-150113-618x400.jpg)
This is probably too much information for this meme, but I guess I want to be more open about my experience being that it is pride month (I'm a very secretive/private person so I'm not usually open about my identity or my dysfunctional family LOL). Not especially, but I think it's getting better.