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29th June 2022
05:20pm BST

But normal chitchat soon kicked up a gear: "That was the moment our seven-year-old son came out. He took a bite of chicken and announced, in his matter-of-fact way, “I hope you know I’m gay."
And just like that, Katie realised she had a gay son.
Her mind immediately jumped to how best to react to make this as easy as possible for him, as she recalls: ”I fervently wished there was someone with more experience—or, better yet, a degree in child psychology—who I could consult before responding. But no such luck: There wasn’t a single expert hiding under the table."
In the absence of an in-house parenting guru, she took the bull by the horns. Katie said, "I looked at my husband, took a deep breath and mustered a, 'We love you no matter what, and your feelings might change as you get older and that’s OK, too.'
"I think I also threw in something about how he could talk to us about absolutely anything and should let us know if he had questions, or was worried, uncomfortable or curious."
Her son's response? A shrug of the shoulders and an “OK.”
That night, as she readied her kid for bed, "thousand thoughts buzzed through my brain while just as many emotions crashed over me: Could he really know at this age?"
But she put him to bed and that, for a long time, was that.
Until he turned nine that is, when the topic arose again. "As I was washing the dishes, Luca silently appeared beside me. I asked what was up, but he just stood there in his cute little monster truck pyjamas. It wasn’t until I put down the dishcloth and looked him in the eye that he started to talk.
"In a flood of words, he told me he wanted to tell his friends that he was gay—it felt like he was keeping a secret from them, and when he thought about it too much, it made him feel sick."
These words are incredibly hard to hear for any parent, and Katie hurt for her baby as any of us would: "My heart ached, and I wished I could rewind to the time when kisses and cuddles fixed absolutely everything."
It seemed that the time had come for him to show the world who he was, and Katie was determined to support him however she could, as she explains: "After some soul-searching and many late-night talks with my husband, we decided to first tell the parents of his closest friends so they could be ready to answer any questions. It seemed like a small way to protect him, the least we could do."
Soon, Luca began to tell his friend the news. The responses ranged from, “So?” to “Who are you gay with?”
Kids are truly the best people on earth.
From that point on, everything changed for Luca, as his mum explained: "It was like someone had kicked the party into high gear: He was suddenly dancing and singing—all the time. My quiet boy started living life in full-colour, topped with a glitter-bomb of happiness.
"It was like I was suddenly raising a sparkly rainbow unicorn. He was more confident and outgoing, and you couldn’t shut him up. His teachers noticed it, and his marks improved significantly in grade five.
"There’s been no looking back since."
A masterclass in acceptance and encouragement, you'd love if every LGBTQI+ child's coming out story was this positive.
So, how should you react when your gay child comes to you?
According to Child Psychologist David Carey, these are the important things to remember:
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