Gay Teen Finds Homophobic Dad On Grindr
An American teenager had his worst nightmare brought to life recently when he discovered his own ‘homophobic’ father on Grindr.
The teenager, whose Reddit username is decidinginbetween, posted on the blogging site explaining the situation to other users: “Found out that my “Homophobe” dad has Grindr on his iPhone when he asked me to go fetch it from the car. I am still closeted (denial/curious) so I know what Grindr is, even though i don’t have it myself. This makes it so much more confusing for me.”
The Reddit user decidinginbetween was clearly confused about the situation, more than he clearly was already, and asked other Redditers for their advice on how to handle the matter.
Other users responded with their advice. Reddit user jaycatt7 said, “A closeted married guy on grindr might have some intense homophobia going on that he could take out on the queer kid in his care. IMO coming out before moving out is a bad idea in a situation this complicated.”
Drawing on their personal experience, Reddit user atomicpunksf advised, “My dad was extremely homophobic before I came out to him when I was 18. He ended up doing a total 180 after going to therapy and eventually became the president of our local PFLAG chapter for a while. He later told me that he was bisexual and admitted that his homophobia was due to his own self hatred around being bisexual. It completely blew my mind at the time. I’m telling you he was the worst homophobic asshole. After accepting myself for being gay, I hated him for a long time for how homophobic he was. It took him a few years after I came out but it was the best possible outcome I could have hoped for. I’m not saying you dad will necessarily respond this way. I think most men lack of father’s courage. But there’s always hope. First you have to learn to accept and love yourself though. That really is extremely important.”
decidinginbetween later posted this update, “Hi all, appreciate all the kind words of help and encouragement. I don’t know how to explain it in details though, but TLDR: dad stood in denial and went on the defensive, even tried to question my own sexuality. Mom still does not know and that pains me. I guess he would still be that closeted homophobe and I; that closeted homo who is too shit to do more. Maybe all of this is just in my head. Maybe i am just thinking too much.”
