Growing up, my mom and I spent lots of time in the car, traveling to see family. We tended to move a lot and our family was always hours and hours away. So this was our time to talk and catch up with each other. So naturally, when I was being picked on about being gay, we talked about it. This started at an early age and I always denied it. But the talk with mom was always, “You know if you are gay, I would love you anyway.” My response of course was “I AM NOT GAY!!” That would end the conversation and then we would move on to something else.

Years later when I finally came out to my friends and began dating men, I thought it was time to tell mom. So again, on a trip to see family I started out with, “Mom I have some bad news.” Concerned, she asked what, and I began to tell her about how I was in a car accident and I left the scene and that the other person was injured pretty bad. I went on about how I was being sued and it wasn’t looking good. Naturally my mom was upset and concerned, but was totally supportive and wanted to help no matter what. Finally when I had her totally engulfed, and pretty emotional, I looked at her and said, “Mom, I am just kidding, I am gay.” That is when she slapped me and asked why I would do that? My response was, “Well I figured if you could love me when I almost killed someone, being gay couldn’t be that bad.”

She stopped the car and said, “Like I said before, I love you no matter what.”