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My name is Alexander Meadows, from Miami, Florida, and my story is coming out to my parents when I was 18.

One day I was getting ready for school and my mom said, you know, that we need to sit down and talk. And I thought, uh oh, something could be wrong. So we started talking and she said, “You know, son, it’s okay. I know.” Those were the first words out of her mouth. And I thought, well, I know I didn’t get in trouble from any of my teachers from talking too much so I’m wondering what’s going on here? And she started putting two and two together and she said, “You know, son, it’s okay, I know you’re gay.” And the tears starting flowing from me and her, and I asked her, “How did you know?” And she goes, “Well, a mother always knows.” But more importantly, by the friends I started surrounding myself with, and some of them being gay and some of them being straight. But to make a long story short, the most important thing she said from that conversation is, at the end of the day, we’re your family and we’ve got your back and we love you and we support you. So I knew that I would be alright. The next hardest thing was, she was like, “Okay, you now need to tell your dad.” And I was like, “Uh oh.” I waited a little bit on that. I had to find a place where I knew he would feel comfortable, and that was at Hooters of all places, you know, my parents are divorced, my dad loves Hooters, for the wings and the beer of course.

So we were sitting down talking and he could tell I was nervous and he said, “Son, is everyone okay?” And I was like, “Well, yes…” And he said, “Well, are you sure?” And I said, “Absolutely.” And I said, “Dad, I’m gay.” And he said, “Okay…I kind of figured. But I think I’m gonna need a beer on this one.” Because it’s one thing to kind of know and to have it verbalized is something else. And I think the most heart-warming thing I took away from that was when my dad looked around the room and said, “Alright, son, tell me, what’s your kind of guy?” And I literally, like, froze and said, “Dad, we can’t be having this conversation.” And he said, “No, it’s okay, I need to know what type of guy my son is into so if I ever find someone who’s of quality, I can introduce you to.” So I said, you know, blond haired, blue eyed… And we kind of left it at that and enjoyed our wings and everything like that.

So I think my story is pretty cool. You know, I have a loving and supporting family and it showed that a lot of the stress that I had, a lot of the insecurities that I had, were all self-induced. You know, you’re afraid of coming out to your parents thinking they might not take it so well when in fact they took it really well and showed a lot of love and support, so it was cool.