“Kate, I always knew.” Those were the first words my brother said to me after I officially came out to him. I couldn’t believe it. Especially after knowing his opinion on the LGBT community in general, I was definitely shocked. To say that I was completely ecstatic would’ve been an understatement. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s rewind a few years.
 |
| Even back then I was a weirdo |
My
brother has always been the most important person in my life. Even though I’m
five years older, we’ve always been super close. His love and support probably
means more to me then my own parents. Unfortunately, ever since he started high
school he’s been openly vocal about his distaste for the LGBT community. He used to
always talk about how it was wrong to be gay, against the Bible, gross to
watch, yada yada. Granted, I always hoped he would grow out of that especially
when he went off to college, but I’ll admit that it did scare me away from
telling him for a number of years. It wasn’t until my parents were ok with it that
I found the confidence to approach the topic with him.
Christmas
Eve might not have been the best time to have this conversation but several
glasses of wine later I was revved up and ready to go. We were downstairs in my
basement sitting at the bar when I decided to just go for it. I said I needed
to talk to him about something and he immediately without hesitation, knew what
I was going to say. I told him that I was 100%, without a doubt super gay, and
that more importantly, I was happy. His reaction shocked me. He didn’t even bat
an eye. My brother who has always been so openly unsupportive of the LGBT
community looked me dead in the eye and told me he was ok with it. He also
revealed how he wasn’t surprised at all and always had a feeling that I liked women which I found
to be somewhat of a relief. When I asked him why he didn’t have a problem with
it like I thought he would, he said “Because it’s you Kate, I’ll always love
you no matter what and I’ll always support you.” Again I couldn’t believe his
response.
I
think my biggest take away here is that people will surprise you. My brother
who I always believed would hate my lifestyle was totally ok with it all
because he loved me. So if you’re scared about how someone close to you will
react, don’t count them out because they could very well shock you with their
response. It wasn’t until my brother had someone close to him come out that his
thoughts and beliefs began to change.
It’s
important to note here too that we need to take it upon ourselves to educate
people about our community and break those preconceived stereotypes. It’s
critical to show the people in our lives that just because we might not be in
love with someone that society tells us to love that we’re all of a sudden a
different person then who they know. Just like I told my brother, I’m still the
same tennis playing, movie loving goof he grew up with, I just happen to really
love women.
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