Coming Out Stories

Tyeshia Torres 

she/her

When I came out to my mother, it was by mistake. She asked me where my friend was and how come she wasn’t coming over anymore, and I simply said “we broke up” before I realized what I was saying. My mom took it really well. My sisters on my mom’s side accept me, I believe, but they make sly comments and jokes that hurt me deeply; they say stuff that makes them sound homophobic, though they swear they aren’t. When I came out to my dad and the family on his side, most told me it was a sin and I was going to hell. My Titi even went as far as to tell me I need to stop posting gay stuff online because it is a sin and I will never get a boyfriend that way. My Titi and I do not talk anymore, and most of my father's side have disowned me. The only one out of my family who makes me feel as I am truly able to be myself is my mother. My sisters on my mom’s side try hard to make me feel like it is okay for me to be who I am, but the things they say makes me feel otherwise. It is hard not to be accepted by family. But I have come to realize that blood doesn’t mean family; the people who you love and who love you for who you are, are real family.