As a cisgender white woman, I can only imagine the fear and trepidation that goes into telling the people you love that you’re not straight. You must fear that they will see you differently, that they will love you differently, that they won’t support you and they won’t even try to understand.
I fear that too many kids get those exact, soul-crushing responses from their parents, too, which is what makes this TikTok of Catherine-Sofia Dols coming out to her mother all the more precious.
Catherine, a North Carolina high school student, came out to her mom as gay with a batch of cupcakes that read “I like girls.”
She has to prod her mother to read them, but once she does, her reaction is first “I kind of knew that,” before hugging her daughter and then clarifying in a totally adorable mom way “you mean sexually?”
@blingswing3000 she really said “sexually…???” anywho i came out to my mom today with cupcakes #fyp
The brief but heartwarming reaction – her mother just shrugged and went about her business – has been viewed more than 3 million times.
Catherine-Sofia said that sharing the moment with the world turned out to be great because of all of the positivity she got in return.
She told Buzzfeed,
“A lot of the comments were of people telling me that they wish their parents would react the way my mom dad, and it really saddens me to know that there are kids out there or even adults out there who get disowned from their own family.”
It can be disheartening for LGBTQ kids and allies alike to think that children are being shunned for trusting their parents with their most authentic selves.
Here’s hoping that, as old bigotries die and younger parents move up through the ranks, more kids will feel loved, seen, and supported the way Catherine-Sofia does every day.