My mom had major health issues for years, we knew her end was coming and I always regretted my dad dying without my being honest with him so I decided I was going to tell my mother before I lost her, the day I went to tell her I kept freezing up and putting it off, she then asked me if what I wanted to tell her was that I'm gay, she then said she suspected since I was a kid but had it confirmed when I was 11 and she saw me kissing my buddy but decided she'd wait for me to tell her and now she wanted me to know that it never mattered I was and always will be her son, we then spent hours talking and laughing and crying with each other. Sadly I lost her to her health trouble a week later, I'll always be grateful to know she knew and still loved me

I am so impressed by how even-tempered and even loving you are. It couldn't have been easy, but you are a special man.

when i came out to my dad he said “darling, i don’t care what parts you like, just as long as the person those parts are attached to treats ya well.” love that old man..

i dont understand how hard it is to love your child. if you can't love them when they come out as gay then you never truly loved them.

When my son first came out. I automatically accepted him. And I assured him he is perfect in my eyes. About a year later I over heard my son telling his friends who were having problems with their parents that it was no big deal to me. And that wasn't true. So i told him... No my love, it broke my heart. I cried myself to sleep for weeks.... Until I realized, I was crying for the things I wanted for my son. I had to let go of my dreams for my sons and accept his... It unfair to think parents should just simply understand. They need understanding too. However parents need to realise. It's their life, don't lose your baby to something so simple. Love is love, don't make them choose. Its wrong and you will regret hurting you child so deeply. My Jackie Boy is my butterfly...! And his soon to be husband is amazing. Who wants to be theStereo typical family anyway? Parents remember this one thing. If you don't have your child's back.... Then your the one with the problem..... Not your gay child....

The psychiatrist gave good advice for the time: It was smart to wait until after your education was finished, and you were independent, to come out to your father. Most likely, it removed the temptation for him to try to use finances as a leverage over you. This probably went as well as it could. This video is being added to my "Coming Out As Gay" KZfaq Playlist.

Religion is such a plague . All this because of a fucking book . Glad i was raised by atheist parents and atheist grand parents and atheist great grand parents . My coming out happened one morning when i was about 14 , (i'm 43) and lasted about 6 seconds . I told my father first because we are extremely close , he said , well , you hid it well , good thing you told me while you're still young , because the best years of your life are about to start , be safe and then he called my mother and said "did you know that Kyllian is gay ?, my mother said no , and then told me , keep on bringing good grades , be sure we are behind you and , and instead of saying be safe , she told me to meet her after school to meet a very good friend of hers who became my first gay friend , who was much older than me , and answered every question i had and is still one of my dearest friend today . Never a single time was the words god , hell, or whatever bullshit ever mentioned .

Khalid's story reveals very interesting thins: He chose to be truthful with his father even though there could be dire financial consequences. That is far from selfish. His father completed his sentence, meaning that like his mother, dad had known for a long time and hoped his denial would prevail over reality. That this affected Khalid's ability to maintain relationships indicates this is an issue of IDENTITY and not sexual activity. Last, Khalid has awesome eyebrows and a sexy nose. I suspect Khalid will have a happy life, because he knows how to make correct choices, regardless of the difficulty.

This is a great coming out story that can mean a lot to many gay muslims. Unbelievable how you got thru all this. There is really hope.

Khalid, you mention here that your dad is incredibly proud of you as a writer; well, as a counselor, I am incredibly proud of you as a young man! You are living proof that out of adversity comes the call to greatness. Because of your strength of character and intellect, I know that this terribly difficult story of your 'coming out' will make you stronger and more certain of your greatness. I am so proud of you and so happy for you. Thank you and all the best to you..............Ray

Very nice story- and to those saying very negitive things about this man's father....there is no need. He loves his father, and would probably extremely offended to hear people speak about him in such a way. You can see how much he loves his father and that their bond is rather close despite his father's difficulty to come around the bend completely. Often love can be more important than understand. Love can be more important than being right. He could refuse to see his father and be angry because of his reaction, but that wouldn't help anyone get anywhere. Instead he takes the high ground. Commendable.

Extremely powerful, honest and moving account. This extremely intelligent young man managed to put into words the very notion that rang through my head as he was speaking: that children of loving parents learn to reciprocate that same love and extend a genuine olive branch of understanding, patience and forgiveness towards said parents. As he said, he never viewed his being gay as being such a bad thing, but he understood that it would still be a traumatic experience for his devout father. As a result of this loving son's understanding and patient nature, he was able to allow his father the opportunity to grieve for the son he thought he had and be reborn in acceptance, respect, pride and joy for 'the boy, the man, the poet, the scholar' he was actually blessed to call his son. I can barely write this without crying. Children can be so forgiving towards their parents' shortcomings, that they are able to be the rock a parent may need to lean on until that parent has experienced the epiphany of love that allows them to come out at the other end as a brand new blessed and grateful individual. For a devout Muslim father, his son's revelation had to have felt like a confirmation of the young man's fate to be condemned to a kind purgatory on earth, which is precisely the malignant fear his own religion had sadly conditioned him to feel. Yet, the son, full of understand and grace towards his father, was able to allow the old man to grieve and be there for him at the other end with a comforting and reassuring smile. Again, what a heartfelt account of a father and son bonding at a level neither probably imagined possible. Advice to devout parents: your children's sexuality is something they have no control over and it is something ultimately rendered trivial by the infinitely greater and infinitely complex spectrum of their own humanity.

he is beautiful...and his eyes are mesmerizing 💙😍

the therapist’s advice was excellent but i’m glad that this story has a positive ending and that he is happy now 💗

His father, steeped in rigid Muslim doctrine, ignorant of basic human psychology and history and physiology was a therapist. Apparently anybody can be a therapist. I’m glad you made it thru a most difficult experience.

When I came out to my dad, he kind of stammered a bit, and then I said "get over yourself Dad" - it worked.

Beautiful compassion from this son to his father.

My grandfather (who basically raised me) reacted very similarly to Khalid's dad when I came out. We're closer than ever about 6 years after the fact, and I can tell that the poor reaction is from a place of being scared for the soul of someone you love so much.

"I think the burden that he carries with him is just as heavy, if not heavier, than the one that I've always carried with me." Such an astute insight!

The fact that his Dad took it to those extremes is amazing to me but at least he wasn't violent because I have heard some horrible stories

He’s so handsome and a Sweetheart. Woww! Congrats For having that bravery!😘🏳️‍🌈

All that was missing from dad's reaction was, "I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth".

At least his father did not allow his deeply wounded emotions to turn violent and I must assume his love for his son was his strength. I am very happy for them both that they have a strong relationship despite their differences, as I know there is still room for growth.

In all his story I was not able to stop thinking how much his fathered has been through and still holds on with life withh all confidence. Loads and loads of respect for the father, from the bottom of my heart. Salute!!

A bittersweet story but mostly sweet - as time passes. My Texas dad was quiet when I told him, but eventually began asking a few questions, but making more observations about how I had lived my life. No hugs or tears, but I was thankful for his mild reaction - compared with other friends stories. Texan men of his generation generally didn't talk about deep or emotional things. He has since passed away and I hope now he understands fully. I was glad to have the opportunity to take care of him the last six months of his life, and be with him when he died. I love my Daddy ❤️

When he said the dad told him hed do anything cause he didn't want him to die and go to Hell... That really touched me for some reason... Even thou his views were wrong, he loved his son... And Im happy things worked out in the end...

You're a very brave, kind and insightful man. Thanks very much for sharing this video. Wishing you every happiness.

That was very moving. And from the description of the father and his reaction I think it is amazing that they have such a good relationship 4 years later.

Khalid, you are a man with great dignity, compassion and understanding. Beautiful story. You understood you're Dads feeling and didn't press the issue, wise choice. I am the only male of 5 siblings from a very traditional Italion family. I never.... "came out"....per say....with words, I just let everyone figure it out for them selves, From 17 years old I lived with the same man for 48 years....till his death. My dad knew my situation but without words or talking about me being gay he treated me and my partner always with love and respect. Bravo to both You and you're Dad for respcting those boundries. Sometimes less said is more powerfull. Best to you and youre future.

love your story! as a gay and muslim man with muslim parents

What a beautiful young man with a beautiful story.

We pray 5 times a day* When people are very devout and committed to their faith they will be more accepting. My entire Muslim family in Saudi Arabia accepted me as a gay, after my father interred into my room while I was having an affection with my gay partner and I'm glad he did:) Side note: The gov't of Saudi and the people of Saudi have quite different views!

The love shown here for the father, the empathy for his hardships and life journey is really touching.

Thank you. Khalid, a Muslim person is very difficult to reach. You are awesome. I’m married to an Indonesian and he is freaked about ever living in his country because of the way they treat gay people. He plans to create an LGBT support site for Indonesian people. I hope he is as brave as you are.

When I told my parents it was through my apartment door and I was crying because my dad fired me, took back his car and I was disfellowshipped...shunned so to speak by my parents. I got out into the world got a job, car, nice place etc...and now my mom is really old and is coming to live with me this month. No matter what she thinks of me or my sexual preference, I'll always take care of her. Maybe some day before she dies she'll accept me for who I am.

These videos have so much value. Without the support of friends and family life is just harder. You know this kid is gonna be just fine. I sympathize with those who can't find it in themselves to see the other side, but many can't, so we all lose. Life shouldn't be a struggle.

You made me cry! How brave you are! You are doing more than you know.

I can say we have the same name, and the almost same life experiences with smaller twist, I'm happy that you found peace and acceptance.

I came out 2 years ago! Wish I did it sooner too. Thanks for your share. -Khalid😀

breaks my heart. love to you both.

Thank you for sharing your story

Excellent. Love the way he stood up for himself.

I hope you eventually work through everything together when youre ready. That must have taken so much courage to come out to him and i wish you the best of luck.

Thank you for sharing xx

What a beautiful video! Thank you so much

So beautiful! What a wonderful person and story. Truly moving.

You are so strong and this story is going to help so many people come out to there family. God bless. 💜

This is beautifully and lovingly expressed. Thank you.

i am muslim and gay i cry everyday ,,because no one can help and i cant believe god can can punich me of something i have no control in

This made me cry.. 🤧🤧🤧 Glad his dad is supportive and love him.

Amazing! Beyond incredible. Massive hugs to your father, you and your mother. People whom I look up to.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm proud to be in the same community as you! Stay strong 💪 and honest and ppl will respect you.

Glad you and your father worked through things.

Wow, how compassionate and caring of your father's difficulty and struggle. I'm so glad you still love each other through the difference.

Powerful video.

You seem like a great guy and really enjoyed your story. Thank you for sharing. 😊

Thanku for yr honesty. May you truly find the love of yr life. Blessed be

Such a lovely story. Thanks for sharing!

So sorry you had to go through that. Glad it worked out!

Powerful video

Very nicely expressed. Very complex situation, and to wish it weren't is, as you said, "unrealistic".

Thank you, Khalid, for sharing your very powerful experience. We, as a society, forget that cultural differences can make coming out extremely difficult and in cases impossible. It's wonderful to know that your relationship with your father is evolving into a stage of acceptance.

Just watched your video. Granted it’s a long time since you made it. But for all the young guys watching these please note that almost all the parents no matter how understanding to some degree make it about them. Your case was extreme. Most of us guys when we are going through this are still kids at heart yet we are asked after spending our tee plus year sorting ourselves out, well we are asked to be strong and supportive to the people that should be supporting their children. Hopefully by the time I have watched this life is good for you and your family. We all deserve the happy ending one way or another. Thanks for the post.

Really nice and heartfelt coming out story. The smile and genuine love you have for both your parents is to be commended. Even though your dad had a hard time from your coming out, you have both made the effort to grow your relationship.

So proud of you..xx

I’m so happy that he was able to go around his depression and come out to his father but can be for a minute appreciate that fact that he’s so ✨charming ✨ and able to add humour to something so grave.

What you said makes a lot of sense. I am sure you are helping out a lot of people.

This was excellent. I love that it explores that people are complicated and come with lots of baggage that is often very significant. Khalid had a very traumatizing coming out and yet he still loves his father and his father still loves him. Maybe his father will grow even more with time and maybe he won't but he's still finding a way to express his love and his son understands.

Great stuff

Very nice sharing. Thank you.

Fascinating. Thanks. After watching many of these it’s still amazing that I come across unique experiences like this one. Also, to the creators- I have sometimes taken issue with the titles given to posts- that they give away too much of the story rather than letting the story unfold to us. This is an example of what I’m saying- this one was given the perfect title- sets up the story but doesn’t give anything away. Let’s him tell the story rather than the title doing it. Thanks.

Even though I don't know you , I really do admire you for sharing your story . and glad to hear that you and your dad have a close relationship after all the hurt you both must have gone through ...A father son relationship is so important ,but unfortunately this doesn't happen in every family so you are very lucky to have him in your life now.

Powerful testament to the love and commitment of a family.

I never forget that this is the kind of minefield some people have to walk thru just to be able to live honestly.

Wonderful sharing.

You are beautiful. To some of us falls the task of “accepting” that our parents will never really accept our truth. Peace and love can still be found here and your story confirms that complex reality. Be happy and safe and I’m sure for your father, that will prove to be enough x

Your parents have much to be proud about. You are a good man with much to offer the world. Thank you for sharing your truth.

From a traditional Pakistani family in uk Came out to my sister , my parents n brothers .... no problems there . I’m even God father to my sisters children and now her daughter is married ( she is 1/2 Iranian ) to a guy from Pakistan ... I was made god grandad to their son :0))) I even have family in Pakistan who totally except me for who I am !

Had the same experience with my christian fundamentalist parents that this guy had with his Muslim father. Anyone who's a fundamentalist in any religion has serious problems

Respect to you. I came out to my father 20 years ago (when I was 35) and it would probably be better if I hadn't. So I feel great sympathy for anyone who has told their parents and had a hard time of it.

Always amazing stories

It's so sad to see that even people who are in professions like his dad , being a doctor , professor etc. that are usually considered being mastered only by intelligent people can be still , at the same time , so narrow-minded and uneducated in other areas ...

God bless you Amen 🙏🏻.

What a sweet father. I know there are open ends still and probably always will be because such a thing like a person's opinion (whether flawed) is so hard to change. He seems like a very emotion filled man, quite like his son. Hearing about those cards was nice.

I love this channel. One in a while the YT algoritme sends me a video of it. And it are always such interesting true stories.

Amazing thing is that your father's love of and pride in u, will change his level of acceptance.

You're really brave.

This is beautiful. A parents love knows no bounds. I don’t agree with the father but it’s nice he can look past it for the sake of his son.

You are wonderful Guy.

Your dad must have done something right because you are a beautiful, kind and empathetic young man

Khalid, you write and speak beautifully, and you are a beautiful soul. Norman Maclean captured the cry of the your father's heart near the end of "A River Runs Through It," when Norman's father, a Presbyterian Minister, laments the loss of his son Paul, and speaks of it in a sermon. “Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding.” We CAN love completely without complete understanding, and your father is living proof at that. Love and understanding do not always come at once. But where there is love, understanding and acceptance can grow. Love is at the root of everything. All learning. All relationships. Love, or the lack of it.

Your father sounds awesome!!!! he was raised in a different ,culture and time! i wish my immigrant father was so accepting.

What a lovely young man. So sorry about his challenges. Religion is the root of most of the world's evil.

What an articulate testimonial!!! Thanks so much! Dubuque, Iowa! I'm from Davenport and I visited Dubuque a couple of times as a kid, probably on our way to Minnesota for summer vacations. It's great that you describe your experience is such detail and with a positive and complex outcome. I distinctly remember the car that road up the hillside in Dubuque and the old town aspect of the historic river town. Davenport is a river town too and didn't have a gay bar for many years, though I never liked gay bars. It was a place to meet gay men and experience gay sex, but in Davenport, I used to have to drive across the river to Rock Island or Moline, Illinois for the bars. So many things I liked about our description. I had a musical mentor of Armenian decent and he and his family were extremely emotional. It may be a stereotype, but I do think it's more prevalent in middle eastern populations. My friend actually passed out on stage conducting a chorus due to his sometimes uncontrollable rages. Whatever, sorry for the long post, but your story intrigues me. At 73 and being a child of the 50s in Iowa, I'm still in the process of coming out. Old patterns die hard and you're fortunate to have the insight you do. Blessings! Richard in San Francisco

happy it turned out okay in the end. I can't blame the dad because of the hardships he went through that caused him to devout himself to religion and pray for his and everyone's safety. I think because of his trauma he had of war and shit made him believe god will help through hard times so of course when his son says he is someone his religion doesn't approve of- he's obviously going to be heartbroken as he wants his son to be safe. but the fact that he overcame that and accepted his son is amazing to me and I think this dude's dad is pretty strong.

I think you are great. 👍👍👍👍

Love is complex, love has many shapes and many faces, love has many shades of color and it is not always easy.... this story is so filled with Love.

I think your compassion for your father exemplifies what it means to "be a man" far more than what our gym teachers meant while yelling at us to throw the ball in gym class harder. I hope things improve for both you and your father every day, every year, and that you both have love and peace.....thanks for sharing.....

I’m glad his dad came around, even if his initial reaction wasn’t good.

I really appreciate how he views his dad. Coming out to religious parents who truly fear for your soul, who believes you are going to hell not necessarily because you are evil, but because they believe your sexuality will separate you from God/heaven, it's tough. My parents love me and while they don't love that im gay, they support me through it. However, in my early adolescents and into college, they definitely prayed that I would continue to "give my sexuality to God" and remain pure. I know now they still pray that I'll return to God. It's not because they don't love me, but because their faith is so that they want me to be with them in heaven. I get it. I don't agree with their beliefs but I do understand, especially since I was a christian for many years until I chose my own path. It's not easy feeling that pull of your faith vs your sexuality/identity (not including religious people that are for lgbtq). It's like tug of war and for such a long time, I was afraid of either side winning. Now I embrace my sexuality and I hold a lot of understanding towards those who struggle with acceptance