Do parents generally know if you're gay?

I think it depends on the parents. I think most will suspect without really knowing for sure. While some either just don't see it...or they block it out. And I'm sure there who might've even known before the kid themselves knew.

 

Well, I think it varies parent to parent. Mine said they had no idea. Even though I had been dropping hints for the longest time and I thought they were hinting that the knew. Oh, well. But some parents know and others don't. It also sort of depends on how you act. If you're flamboyant or not.

 

I think it really depends on your flamboyancy. My parents claim that they have always had a hunch, probably because I wear a suit and tie to school every day. My friend's parents had no idea, but he isn't nearly as flamboyant as I am. There must be some direct correlation between how you act, and how your parents perceive you.

 

This is a funny question! For me, my dad always suspected I was gay, but he never told my mom about it... even when I was a little kid he picked up on it, and a few times he told me, "son, if you turn out to be gay I will accept you..." Lol, at the time I wasn't even thinking about it. He knew about all the girls I crushed on in school, so even though he passed away before I came out, I'm pretty sure he knew I was bi.

Now my mom, on the other hand, was always sure I was straighter than an arrow. She couldn't believe it when I said I was bi; sometimes she still doesn't believe me, especially when I'm with a girl, she thinks that means I am straight haha.

 

I think it might come as a total shock to my parents.

 

Depends on how close you are to your parents. My mother, after the divorce with my dad, is so busy with her work raising me and my brother that she rarely have time to really spend with us. So it is natural that she had no idea about me. Though I did hide in the closet very, very well...

 

I think for me, my biological father probably has an idea, but I don't know for sure, especially since the relationship with him and my stepmother is very tension filled to begin with. My mother and my stepfather are arch-conservative, have no clue, and are in utter denial about even the remote possibility that they have a flaming gay son. I chose the wait until I get older and established in a career route before really I really explore my sexuality, and when I come out to them, I intend to be very firm with them in that it is not my problem if they have issues with gay people. Within even this holiday season, both of them said derogatory things about LGBT people so right now the only coming out to them I feel even worth mentioning is that they can find out if/when I find a boyfriend and update my relationship status on Facebook.

 

My mom didn't. She threatened suicide, and accused me of lying. She is over it now, just kinda looks at me funny when I talk to girls going through drive thru like are you hitting on them lol. So don't let that scare you

 

I don't think my parents had any idea. I dated guys all through high school, and tend to dress fairly feminine. I was raised by a single dad who never enforced gender stereotypes, so the fact that I'm a pretty even mix of masculine and feminine in terms of personality and interests, and have always hung out with guys was nothing strange.

My dad and step-mom have a TON of LGBT friends, so gender and sexuality have never been a 'big deal' to them. I don't think it really matters to them what I am, because they are 100% accepting and supportive of every letter in our alphabet soup. When I first told them I was dating a girl, the reaction was "Ok, great. Does your girlfriend want to come over for Thanksgiving?", then "so is it only girls now, or are you still into guys too?". Even before I came out, my parents were so proud that I went to NYC Pride and would tell all of our gay friends. It can be embarrassing at times (like when my step-mom is trying to get me to flirt with our cute waitress), but I am incredibly lucky.

The tattoos were a WAAAY bigger issue than my sexuality. Good god, I though I was going to get disowned over those.

 

My mom told me that she had thought a few times that I might be but at that point I was hiding so much of myself that nobody could read me. I hid it like a professional actor and my life was the movie. Things show through love no matter how much you hide. It doesnt mean they know

 

My answer is not just cause they are your family but how close you are to them. If you are hiding something from them; they can usually ttell it. I'd say that my mother suspected but my sister kneww myself. The last time that I spoke to my sister on gay people stuff was randomly out of no where that she mentioned an old friend in the west who is now openly gay. I wonder why she hassled me out on this from no where because my partner at the time didn't let her know that isn't coincidental in my view that and she knew that I crossdressed.

 

Some do and some don't it's as simple as that. I have dropped like a million hints for the past 6 years to both my parents and yet both were clueless and didn't even think it was possible that I could be gay, go figure :/

 

I still think my parents knew it somehow, but were always in denial. When I come out it was an huge shock, and even today, 1 year later, they are still annoyingly kind of homophobic.. but I think they are finally realizing its not a "phase".

When I was a kid I used to say I "was different" and that "I wouldn't marry a girl" I don't know why, I guess I knew it myself somehow thats the main reason I think my parents always suspected, even though I they take as something "impossible". I'm not and I was never (as a kid) "stereotypically" gay*, perhaps thats why they cannot get it right in their heads <_<

*when I'm not drunk : P or absolutely and extremely spontaneous. For most of the time, I'm "straight acting" or whatever, ugh, I still hate these labels.

 

Yeah, straight acting is an extremely silly label, if you ask me. Gay men come from all sizes and colors, and it's a shame I haven't found the ones I like yet lol

I haven't come out yet (not to my parents) and I don't plan to do it while I'm not in college. Still, I fear it will be hard to hide my sexuality until then, since I want to experiment the same sex, even if in secrecy. I know for sure that they suspect I'm hiding something from them, but I don't think they believe it to be gayness. Of course, they are worried about the fact that I never seem to get a girlfriend, but they might deny it, saying that I'm just too shy to approach them or that I should have other things to think about in life. If they suspect, they only keep it to themselves, sadly, I don't think I have the most supportive family in the world, based on things they say about gay men. If they showed to be more open minded, I would be fully out a long time ago.

 

If their child follows stereotypes from a young age some parents may question their child's sexuality but stereotypes alone are never a good way to judge, so my answer is no. they may suspect but they never know before you do.

 

I think a lot of parent's know but they throw that thought aside, or they think that if they bring it up it might cause the child to be that way, that's how my family acts same with sex and drugs.

 

I've wandered about this, I'm pretty sure my mum knows or at least suspects I'm not exactly straight (lack of ever having a proper girlfriend or showing any real interest in women for the past 3 or 4 years). I don't know if my dad knows or suspects, unless my mum has confided in him about her suspicions (if she suspects at all).

I can remember this one time while in the car we were talking about relationships and we got on to how I've never had a proper girlfriend and I blurted out without thinking about it 'I'm an adult, I can date who I like, if you get what I mean' to which she replied 'yeah I get what you mean...' followed by awkward silence.

This other time I was talking about how I'd like to meet a nice woman and everything (I am in the closet after all) and she said 'as long as you're happy I don't care who you are with, you'll always be my son' which I thought was really sweet :icon_redf Of course that could be me just looking too deep into things.

All in all I think it's more likely than not that she at least suspects it, which is kind of a blessing in disguise when I think about it...

 

Aww that's so nice of you're mom, I wish all parent's could be more open (if she in fact was being open to you about it)

 

I hope she was being open, it will make coming out a lot easier if she already sort of knows! I know she'd be fine with it, she's always taught me to be tolerant of people who are different to me. It's just getting over that hurdle and finally getting the confidence to do it :/

I think if anything she'd be worried it would mean I'd have a harder life, which is perfectly understandable as the era she grew up in wasn't exactly a hotbed of tolerance for LGBTQ people. But I'd just have to explain that things are a lot different these days, gay marriage was finally legalised here in the UK today with even half of the Conservative Party voting for it! That just shows how far things have come.

Sorry I'm getting carried away