Letter to my Gay Son

Today, I went on one of my favorite websites, Unicorn Booty. They talked about an article in The Huffington Post, an article written by Randi Reitan—which isn’t really an article per say.. it’s a letter to her son for Christmas. I felt this was relevant, since yesterday was Christmas and all. :)

So, click on the link and go read the letter. Go on. Read it.

Okay, so I’m sitting with my mom when this article pops up on my laptop, so obviously I make her pause her TV show so that I can read it to her. I’m reading it, and I’m so oddly (yet not too oddly) fixated on this letter; I felt like it was more than a letter between a mother and a son, I felt like this letter was to me.. to all of the gay community. That’s the great thing about the internet, though, right?

Anyway, I’m reading it and towards the middle of it I’m noticing this terrible lump in my throat but I continue reading because out of the corner of my eye I can see my mother staring at me and intently listening—which, no offense mom, doesn’t happen all of the time (especially when one of her shows is on).

I look up after I’m finished reading. I look at my mama and her nose is red, a surefire sign that she’s about to cry or has been crying. I notice a tear roll down her cheek and then my eyes instantly water up. Why are we so emotional about this letter? The mother in this letter wants to give her son one gift for Christmas—equality.

You hear a lot of jokes around Christmas time about people coming out to their families, blah, blah, including that HILARIOUS Funny or Die video that I’m sure a lot of you have seen. I even have a close friend that dealt with that over the holiday, not coming out necessarily, but family asking about the elephant in the room. And I’ve had a dose of that with my brother in the past few weeks, asking me how a date that I went on awhile back went, with a girl (GASP!), when I’ve never officially ‘come out’ to him.

I want to dedicate this post to all of the mothers, fathers, family members, friends and the whole community that supports equality in our world. I want to thank everyone for all of the work that they’ve done in achieving that goal, for us and for our children. I want to thank my mama for being the best mama in the world, for accepting me for who I am.. even when I’m confused about what I want in life, when I’m poor as shit, or when I blab about liking women and men. I know I sound like a beauty pageant princess with all of these thank yous, but I don’t really care. I’m thankful for our world, we can move in the right direction, if our government would stop being so crazy.

So read the letter, share the letter, cry a little bit if you need to, and have a great night.

xoxo
Cortnie