I always felt that I had to be true to myself, and in doing so, I had to be out and open to everyone I knew. I started by telling my friends first. All of them were very accepting of my confession and they bluntly stated that they pretty much always knew. Since my family is incredibly close knit, I had to go down the line and tell my extended family first and last, my parents. Telling my cousins was relatively simple, and all of them were very accepting. I then told my brother who was at first apprehensive, but then he stops to think for a moment and says to me, “You know what? It actually makes a lot of sense.” However, knowing that I had to tell my parents soon afterwards really scared me. My father was never a really prevalent figure in my life, so I was more concerned about the reaction from my mother, who raised me on her own. I had tested the waters prior to approaching her and she seemed rather accepting. I joked around with her once and asked her whether or not she would disown us if either me or my brother were gay, she said she wouldn’t because that’s just how we were born. It was an incredibly progressive statement for her to make considering she is an older first generation Chinese woman. Even though she said that, I still had qualms, because at the time, I’m sure she believed that having a gay child would not be an issue for her. The moment finally came when I had to sit down and talk to her. When I revealed my secret, she was apprehensive at first and could not believe it. She said to me, “You dated guys before, how can you be gay?” I told her that those relationships were meaningless to me and that really was not an important factor. We hemmed and hawed back and forth for awhile, and in short, I still think that she is in denial of my sexuality. I have brought girls I have dated in the past home to meet her and she was completely accepting of them. Although secretly, I know that she still harbors that idea that maybe one day I would get this whole “gay thing” out of my system. I can’t complain about my coming out experience because so many others had it much worse. My mother still loves me and tells me that she accepts me for who I am, but at the same time it still kind of hurts knowing that she is in denial of who I am.