I was married wh 2 kids when I realized I'm gay (opn) | CNN

Contents:

• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY
• NAVIGATG ONE SON'S G OUT N BE A BIG AL. FOR PARENTS WH SEVERAL GAY CHILDREN, N BE OVERWHELMG

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Many of the straight parents I terviewed for When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know exprsed havg felt disappotment learng that their child was LGBT. Richard told me, "Perhaps if every parent toyed wh the possibily that any of their children uld be gay, would change the way they raise their children.

I WAS MARRIED WH 2 KIDS WHEN I REALIZED I’M GAY

Gay children are no different—so ltle of their sexual orientatn has to do wh who they are as a whole.

"It is rare to work wh parents of a gay child who have not stggled wh the feelg of loss at some pot the procs of acceptg their child as gay, " my -thor, Jonathan Tobk, M. Parents feel sad that their gay child has lost the possibily of havg a life whout signifint difficulty.

" Yet Tobk has found that "gay people tell you they are happy wh who they are and feel that they have emerged on the other si of g out as strong, sensive, and rilient dividuals. I kept wag for the moment where I would realize I was no longer gay so I uld put a halt to everythg.

NAVIGATG ONE SON'S G OUT N BE A BIG AL. FOR PARENTS WH SEVERAL GAY CHILDREN, N BE OVERWHELMG

I was nsumed by the p my stomach – the shame of endg my marriage bee I was gay was like luggg a sandbag over my shoulrs and havg a rock my stomach at the same time. I wasn’t sure how to tell my nservative, Geia-born and bred parents that their former pageant queen dghter was endg her marriage bee she is gay. I wasn’t brave enough to actually say the words – the label of beg gay or a lbian was too much for my soul to bear at the time – so I sent her a text msage, “I am not straight.

Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigieg – who, like me, is his late 30s and, like me, me out publicly jt a few years ago – put this way: “It’s hard to face the tth that there were tim my life when, if you had shown me exactly what was si me that ma me gay, I would have cut out wh a knife. Reev also -found a California chapter of PFLAG (formerly known as, “Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays”), an anizatn wh 200, 000 members natnwi.

” The ial rponse offered by Jumel Howard, 25, who me out as gay at 13, go a step further: “No matter what, you are still my child and I am always gog to love you.