There’s no place like home for the holidays—and for gays, that’s not always a good thing. Whether you’re still in the closet, the token gay of your family reunion, or only one of many pride-flag-waving relatives, you often have to put up with a lot of baloney along with your Thanksgiving turkey, especially when homophobic kin is seated across the table.
And some people opt to come out when everyone is breaking bread together. In a 2012 Washington Post essay, Ned Martel contended that Thanksgiving the “proper holiday to tell your family that you’re a homosexual.”
“Awkwardness is predictable, but expect the unexpected,” he advised. “A few years ago, a friend of a friend told his sister that he was going to tell their parents his news at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Seated and fretful, he listened as she spoke up first. Before he even got his throat cleared, she came out ahead of him. Nobody said this was going to be easy.”
And a year later, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stein offered tactics for Thanksgiving coming-outs. “Instead of waiting for the perfect moment (which will never arrive) or manufacturing a segue (which will be painfully awkward), simply roll the bomb onto the table and let someone else detonate it,” he wrote. “Slip in the news—‘I’ve been meaning to tell you: I’m gay. Also, this Tofurky is delicious!’—and shift the burden onto your family. It’s the emotional equivalent of looking at the ceiling while you get a flu shot: You’ll barely feel the pinch, and by the time it’s over, the deed is irrevocably done.”
And if you’re dreading the prospect of coming out as gay at Thanksgiving—or just being your out around your family members—perhaps these memes and social media posts will offer comic relief!
Me at Thanksgiving not helping cook, not contributing to any conversation, not doing anything but sitting with my contraband liquor and a purse full of noodles pic.twitter.com/R3tTE70EKM— Lana Del Gay (@McClellandShane) November 27, 2019
This Thanksgiving: Shout-out to the families watching football together, the weird aunt who showed up out of nowhere, and the gay nephew who's in his room having a conversation with his stuffed animals about whether their feminism is intersectional enough.— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) November 23, 2017
anticipating every gay posting a photo of their thanksgiving plate with the caption “it’s giving…it’s giving thanks”— Izzy Uncut (@izzyuncut) November 3, 2021
My gay behind walking into PJ’s sports bar back home the night before thanksgiving to see people I went to high school with: pic.twitter.com/YWYOUbejPO— Mark McDevitt (@MarkTMcDevitt) November 26, 2019
im so gay i brought my own cocoa powder home for thanksgiving cause i don’t trust the quality my mother has on hand— Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) November 25, 2019
Can’t wait for my favorite thanksgiving pastime (opening Grindr in my hometown to see who’s gay now)— grant???? (@urdadssidepiece) November 22, 2021
A friendly reminder this thanksgiving that regardless of what your yeehaw homophobic family members say, it’s more than okay to be gay— ?? jaclyn ?? (@jaclynhardman) November 28, 2019
