When Natalie Perry’s dad came out as gay to her, her older sister, and their mom 20 years ago, they all had to stay in the closet or he could have lost his job as a chief judge for the Idaho State Court of Appeals. Watch her TEDx talk on life as part of a closeted LGBTQ family.
“I knew that in society’s eyes I’d gone from an us to them,” she says. ” I was just starting junior high and I already desperately wanted to fit in, but what I found was that we were no longer welcome in our church. My own grandfather disowned me.” Even after she left Idaho for college and world travel, “Each time I was in a new environment I had to decide how out I could be. People don’t always realize that children of LGBTQ parents also have to come out regardless of their own sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Watch her video for how her life and her family evolved from there, the impact of marriage equality, and her thoughts on being “culturally queer and erotically straight.” (The presumably automated YouTube transcript says “erratically straight,” which would seem to be a whole other thing altogether.) Thanks to Natalie for sharing her story with the world.