YouTubers share what coming out to the men in their families was like

Pride month means different things to different people, and everyone from the LGBT+ community will have their own feelings about its importance in their lives.

One thing that everyone can agree on, however, is that it is a time to reflect on experience as an LGBT+ person, as well as their journey since they 'came out' to the significant people in their lives.

We caught up with some LGBT+ YouTubers who chose to come out to the men in their family in the most public way possible to make a point, and to help other people in the community to feel comfortable doing the same.

The Rhodes brothers, Aaron and Austin Rhodes, are well known YouTube personalities. Their channel, The Rhodes Bros, has nearly 800,000 followers, and they use their following to actively support the LGBT+ community.

In a brave move, the brothers decided to come out to their dad live on the YouTube channel. The emotional video has now had more than 26 million views, and many of the comments below the video say that they've inspired their followers to follow in their footsteps and come out to people that they may have been worried about doing so.

indy100 spoke to the bothers about why they decided to come out to their dad while filming themselves on their YouTube channel, and about what Pride means to them.

Was it hardest to come out to your dad out of everyone in your family?

Yes, it was definitely hard to come out to our father out of anyone else. We didn't really talk about many personal things whilst growing up or have that kind of relationship. We just never wanted to disappoint him.

Did your dad react in the way you expected?

We honestly had no idea how he would react. It was pretty 50/50. Going into it we just knew it was something we had to do for us to move forward with our lives. The way he reacted shocked us though in the best way possible. He was overwhelmingly supportive as you can see in our coming out video.

Why did you decide to broadcast the moment you came out on your YouTube channel?

We've come so far as a community, but we really wanted to show people that still in today’s world it can be very hard for some people to have that conversation. Also, to show others in our position that their emotions are valid and normal.

What’s the message you want men to get from your video?

Sometimes being open with who you are can be scary, but the freedom that comes with it is so rewarding.

What is the reaction you’ve got from the men in your family?

There have been a few family members that it's something we just don't talk about much, but overall the men in our family have been nothing but supportive and open to talking about our sexuality.

What was the experience like? Was it as scary as you expected it to be?

For us, no. It wasn’t as scary as we expected it to be. Our experience with coming out was challenging at times, but it's brought us to such a beautiful place in our lives. It feels so good to be our authentic selves around the people we love. With that said, we understand how incredibly blessed we are to have had the experience we did. That's why we continue doing what we do - to show people love and hope that may not be as fortunate as we were.

What does Pride mean to you?

Pride is a place to celebrate what our community has triumphed through and how this strong community has brought itself into the light. It's a time to be proud of our culture and the diversity in it. It's about conversation, connection, and celebration!!

Oliver Potter is another well-known YouTuber, who goes under the name of OliverVloggs on his YouTube channel, which has more than 100,000 followers.

In a video that has now been watched upward of 6.6 million times, Oliver decided to come out to his little brother on his YouTube channel.

indy100 caught up with him to discuss what it was like coming out to the men in his family, why he decided to come out to his little brother on his YouTube channel, and what Pride means to him.

What was it like coming out to the men in your family instead of the women?

I have been surrounded with more women in my life than men but there were two main men in my life that I felt I needed to come out to. To tell you the truth it was nerve-racking to come out to my dad and my little brother, Alfie. It also meant I had to come out in different ways for both of them.

Did the men in your family react in the way you expected?

My dad is an ex-navy and showed moments of homophobia, so as you could imagine I felt that coming out to my dad was going to be a terrifying experience that led me to coming out to him over text. His reply was, 'Noted.' And I didn’t really know how to process that reply.

In my head I told myself, 'That’s fine, I’ve come out now, I don’t have to think about that again,' but as time went on nothing was ever mentioned.

Whenever something LGBT+ related came on the TV I would feel awkward and sometimes even just subtly walk out the room and it was never addressed but as they say, time is a healer and my relationship with my dad has strengthened more than ever since I’ve come out.

Why did you decide to broadcast the moment you came out on your YouTube channel?

There were many reasons why I chose to come out on YouTube. One of the reasons tied into 2018 being the 50^th year of the decriminalisation of being gay and I thought it would be important to show the progress that has been made in those 50 years and that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to include Alfie to show a younger generation’s perspective.

What’s the message you want men to get from your video?

I don’t feel as though it was just men I wanted to send a message to as there are a wide variety of individuals in this world. I’d like to think the video came off as inclusive as it was mostly a conversation about love. I’d say my message is that it’s important to educate young people so they don’t feel the same way like many of us did when growing up as an LGBTQ+ individual and having feelings of being excluded from our society.

What is the reaction you’ve got from the men in your family?

Everyone has been supportive with who I am and since that video with my little brother, Alfie, my relationship with my dad has also blossomed and now we are so close, closer than we ever have been before.

What was the experience like? Was it as scary as you expected it to be?

I’ve used this term before as it’s the most accurate way to describe how I felt. It was like a glass filling with water and it came to a point where the glass was over flowing and I just didn’t care what people thought anymore. However, it was harder to come out to Alfie as it was quite intense with it being just Alfie, a camera and myself. I felt as though all eyes were on me. Yes, I was nervous, scared but slightly excited, perhaps for selfish reasons, the more I came out the freer I felt and now it’s just a passing comment.

Finally, what does Pride mean to you?

To me Pride means that you are proud of who you are whatever social situation you’re in. Pride is having the power to understand you can’t please everyone and that’s okay!

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