When I was in 7th grade my mother told me that she was in a relationship with another woman. Even though I was glad that my mother was finally able to be with someone that made her happy, growing up in a small conservative town in the middle of southern Arkansas put certain negative ideas into my head. This made me turn away from my mother because of her announcement. I did this because I was scared. Not of her, but of the reality of what other people would think of her. Inside my head, I thought that if this got out to my peers that they would look at me differently and deny my family and their values. To solve this problem, I simply rejected the possibility of my mother being gay. I never talked about her relationship, avoided going
…show more content…
I didn’t want to be ashamed of my reality anymore. The last night before I left for Pennsylvania I decided to have some of my classmates over from my school as a last celebration. When my friends got to my house we just started to play Xbox and listen to some music. After about 30 minutes or so a song by Frank Ocean came on. Personally, some of my friends and I really enjoyed his music so we started singing along but one of my classmates that I thought I knew better suddenly turned the music off. When I asked him about why he turned the music off he replied by saying he doesn’t listen to his music because Frank Ocean is gay. I was blown away but instead of freezing up and turning away from the situation, I looked at him dead in the eyes and asked if he knew whose house he was in. He made a puzzled face and just stared at me. When I told him that my mother and her girlfriend were two rooms over he just stared at the ground realizing that he had made a mistake. Even though the rest of the night was awkward and quite, I had a sense of self awareness and integrity that I previously never felt before. For the first time I was proud of how I was raised and wasn’t afraid to back down. Since leaving my home town and coming to George School I have become more comfortable with talking about my family. This was in part because of the inclusive community
I didn’t want to be ashamed of my reality anymore. The last night before I left for Pennsylvania I decided to have some of my classmates over from my school as a last celebration. When my friends got to my house we just started to play Xbox and listen to some music. After about 30 minutes or so a song by Frank Ocean came on. Personally, some of my friends and I really enjoyed his music so we started singing along but one of my classmates that I thought I knew better suddenly turned the music off. When I asked him about why he turned the music off he replied by saying he doesn’t listen to his music because Frank Ocean is gay. I was blown away but instead of freezing up and turning away from the situation, I looked at him dead in the eyes and asked if he knew whose house he was in. He made a puzzled face and just stared at me. When I told him that my mother and her girlfriend were two rooms over he just stared at the ground realizing that he had made a mistake. Even though the rest of the night was awkward and quite, I had a sense of self awareness and integrity that I previously never felt before. For the first time I was proud of how I was raised and wasn’t afraid to back down. Since leaving my home town and coming to George School I have become more comfortable with talking about my family. This was in part because of the inclusive community