As a Gay Man Facing Family Rejection, a Picture is Worth a Thousand Cuts
How a photo filled with smiles and joy reveals the heartache of fair-weather family.
The other day I was perusing Facebook and, as the site is wont to do, it showed me a photo I’d taken a few summers ago. I’m standing beside my aunt (my dad’s eldest sister), my arm around her shoulder, the August sun shining on us, beaming smiles on our faces. Looking at it, you might even think that we’re mother and son, so great is the resemblance between us.
Except, of course, things aren’t that simple.
As I gazed at that photo, I was filled with a profound sadness, a melancholy that seemed to strike right into my soul. It’s now been over a year since I’ve spoken to her and, unless something drastic changes, I don’t know that I’ll ever do so again.
To understand this, though, I need to back up a bit and give you the context.
About a year ago, I made plans to visit this aunt (who I’ll call Nadine), hoping to finally introduce her to my boyfriend. At that point Aunt Nadine was the only one of my dad’s three sisters to have not met my partner and, while she was as devoutly Christian as her siblings, if not more so, her comments to my mom suggested that she didn’t think it her place…
