No child or parent wants to walk in on the other with their pants down, but that nightmare scenario is even more anxiety-ridden when one of them is closeted about their sexuality. Luckily, some parents are PFLAG-ready, like the father who found out his son is gay in an embarrassing moment that could have gone so much worse.
Related: Mom walks in on son and his boyfriend, has awesomest response
On Reddit, the father explained that he came home early from work one day recently and accidentally walked in on his 16-year-old son looking at gay porn while naked, suffice it to say.
“When I walked in our eyes met, and we both sort of froze,” the father wrote. “He quickly grabbed a nearby blanket to cover himself. I made a hasty apology and fled from the room. When next I saw him, he was dressed and avoided eye contact. I made no mention of the incident, though this weekend has been a bit awkward.”
The father asked his fellow Redditors for advice. Should he talk to his son about the incident? Is his son’s choice of visual aid a clear indicator that his son is gay? And should he talk to him about that? “Ironically, this isn’t my first rodeo in that department,” he added. “I have a much younger brother (in his twenties) who is openly gay. I love him dearly, of course, and I would love my son regardless of his sexuality.”
Related: Gay guy ‘cannot be more amused’ after his homophobic brother catches him in the act
Reddit users chimed in to say that the father should absolutely have an open and affirming chat with his son — and should perhaps learn to knock before entering — and the guy posted an update hours later.
“This evening, he came in,” he wrote. “I was in the living room and patted the seat next to me, indicating for him to sit down. I told him I was sorry for walking into his room without knocking, and he did nothing wrong. Then he was silent for a couple minutes before he told me he’s gay. This wasn’t a surprise, but I hadn’t expected him to just tell me like that.”
“I gave him a hug and a kiss on the side of his head, told him I loved him, then we watched some TV.”
“My older son came home and my [16-year-old] told him that he told me!” he continued. “I hadn’t expected that his older brother already knew, but I’m glad he felt comfortable sharing with him. So he plopped down on my other side, and we just relaxed. Easier than I thought it would all be.”
From cringeworthy crisis to Christmas miracle!
petej
beautiful. ty!
Jon in Canada
This is how it’s done.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Father and Brother of the year award forthcoming
🙂
sillyme
Cudos for the dad for apologizing to his son as well as talking to him and in all else taking the time to talk and love him no matter what. Proud of that dad and the way he handled it. Great job.
thunderjm
parenting level: expert!
loren_1955
Eyes moistening. Super cool dad and brother.
bowlingbutch
How far the world has come!! Bravo to this Dad. This family will have a lot of wonderful shared experiences
Terrycloth
I never had that problem because they would knock first , wait for an answer. Either it was just a second .although some parents espically mom’s knock while they are opening the door.! I’m sure dad won’t do it again but he may forget .lock your door.i if it dosen’t buy doorknob with a lock….just in case
RyanMBecker
I posted the entire Reddit in another post. In it, the dad said that he came home unexpectedly due to illness. As such, it was excusable that he didn’t knock. His only goal at that point was just to get into bed after informing the son that he was home. Furthermore, they may have a relationship where knocking was never required — especially during daytime hours.
As for installing locks, do you really think that’s an option for any 16 yo while still living at their parent’s home? Furthermore, most experts are against locking bedrooms because of emergencies like fires and illness.
nm4047
this will somehow be in a Ryan Murphy ‘refreshingly’ new production sometime soon. Sounds very made up story all the same.
Kangol2
If this is true, what an affirming story! Praise to the father, older brother, and the younger brother who came out to both. I hope the mom, if she’s around, and any other siblings are supportive too.
RyanMBecker
According to the Reddit post, he’s a single dad. Unfortunately, I think the post is fake. I posted the full Reddit and my skepticism in another post.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
If that father had an ounce of testosterone in him he would have sat that kid down and told him “keep doing that and a strange man in a funny little hat will come and take you away”. That would have cured him instantly.
Josh447
Actually truth be told, the strange man in the funny little hat takes away the story teller. Keep your facts straight odd ball.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
Josh447…..”Takes away the story teller”? I wish you had proofread what you posted. It makes no sense at all. How could that take away from the storyteller? I don’t get it. Many mothers and fathers warned their sons “keep doing that and it’s going to fall off”. Must you always be a misunderstood prude?
Josh447
In your perverted version, you’re the only one who needs curing. By suggesting changing the story line to a negative against the son concerning his sexual expression, you are the new albeit psycho storyteller. Poof. Off with ya.
frankcar1965
Damn, I kept waiting for the butt sex to start, and then all this, sad.
batesmotel
If this is a real story, which I sometimes question those Reddit stories, if it is real, then this is how its supposed to go down no matter what it is.
michel_banen
Nice story but I always wonder what made people decide “Hey, let’s throw our story into the world about how one of us busted the other watching gay porn naked so the whole world can enjoy that!”. Must be because the story did indeed have an…. uh…. happy ending….
RyanMBecker
Here’s the full Reddit post. I explain why I’m skeptical in another post.
“So I’m a single straight father of two boys, one 18, the other 16. Both of them are still in high school. It’s winter break and my oldest son was staying a few days with a friend, and I went to work, leaving my youngest home alone. Friday, I came home early because I wasn’t feeling well and I went to alert my son that I was home. I opened the door and found him on his bed completely naked and jerking off to gay porn. When I walked in our eyes met, and we both sort of froze. He quickly grabbed a nearby blanket to cover himself. I made a hasty apology and fled from the room. When next I saw him, he was dressed and avoided eye contact. I made no mention of the incident, though this weekend has been a bit awkward. Should I have a conversation about it with him? Especially the part where he was watching gay porn? Is this a clear indicator that he is gay, and should I talk to him about that? Ironically, this isn’t my first rodeo in that department. I have a much younger brother (in his twenties) who is openly gay. I love him dearly of course, and I would love my son regardless of his sexuality.”
RyanMBecker
I found the Reddit believable until the part about his son “on his bed completely naked and jerking off to gay porn.” Unless the kid was using magazines where the cover faced the door, I don’t know how he would’ve known that it was gay porn. And I can’t imagine any teen today having even touched a porn mag. A laptop, tablet or phone would not have been easily visible from afar, especially if the son’s head was in the way. LCD screens have limited viewing angles, making it hard to differentiate between men and women at a distance. And the dad would’ve been way too shocked by his naked son to look at the screen carefully in those few seconds. As for the sound, a man moaning doesn’t indicate that there was no woman.
So while the dad may have seen his son “jerking off,” it’s unlikely he would’ve been able to tell that it was gay porn — especially if the dad was so sick that he had to return home from work.
Verdict: FAKE.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
You missed your calling, they need you in as SVU unit 🙂
RyanMBecker
They actually taped a few episodes of SVU in my Soho, NY neighborhood. When I saw Chris Meloni, I couldn’t help but think of his notorious jailhouse pissing scene. No body double, dim lighting or creative angling. That was Meloni pissing onscreen.
RyanMBecker
Ugh … if this is real — and I don’t think it is — the story is way too reminiscent of a page in my life. I had my own apartment soon after college, so I was able to masturbate whenever and wherever I wanted. After pleasuring myself, I often fell asleep on the sofa. One weekend, I woke up in the afternoon with my jockstrap around my ankles and porn playing on the TV. Nothing unusual since I often wear a jockstrap, and I had apparently masturbated the night before after coming home from a party. As I went to shower, I noticed a duffelbag by the sofa. And a cake on the table. Then a note on the door: “Stopped by with your stuff but you were asleep. See you soon, dad.” Eeek. I had forgotten that my father was bringing some stuff over and that I had given him my key. We never did discuss the incident but there’s no way he could have misinterpreted what had just happened on that sofa.
A few months later, a similar incident occurred where the housekeeper left a note, “I’m sorry; didn’t know you were home. Will come back next week.” In her defense, I wasn’t supposed to be home, especially with my jockstrap around my ankles. Poor woman never returned. I’m just glad that she was too old to own a smartphone.
Lastly, my girlfriend apparently stopped by to pick up some things. Again, I was out cold, naked on the sofa. I only knew that she stopped by because she later sent me photo of me on the sofa, with my hand still on my junk. Then a minute later, I recieved another photo — of her and 4 friends, all grinning with a thumbs up, with my living room in the background! I was really embarrassed at first, but then received assurances that her friends were impressed and envious…
The weird thing is that I rarely masturbate, only about once a month. Geez…
Cam
This is the story that seems made up.
scottjamesmiller
If this is real — and I don’t think it is…
one more thing
I’m so glad nobody in my family caught me after coming home from school in the basement with the power sander……of course I took the sandpaper off first!
RyanMBecker
A power sander? Ugh… reminds me a story most med students have heard. It’s real and doesn’t end well. I have the actual medical journal article. If you want all the gory details, Google “scrotum self repair.” In all seriousness, I’d suggest avoiding power tools for self-pleasure.
That’s not even the worst. I spent a year doing research in forensic medicine and you wouldn’t believe some the documented sexual accidents, crimes and deaths I read about — with photos. Among the most memorable was an elderly woman who was fisted to death, gay men dying after being wrapping themselves in cellophane while masturbating, and a 22 y/o gay man who gave himself a cement enema. Needless to say, the cement solidified inside him. Luckily, he went to the ER and survived.
Oh yeah, then there was the Japanese teen who calmly cut off his own penis after deciding that masturbation interfered with his schoolwork. After the deed, he simply returned to studying. It only became an issue days later when the wound got infected. It’s no wonder Asians excel academically! Reminds me of Sada Abe, who carried her lover’s freshly-severed penis in her purse… Look it up.
scottjamesmiller
`Washing machine with an unbalanced heavy load of towels. My father never got why I loved doing laundry at the age of 13.
RyanMBecker
scottjamesmiller, the notorious Jerry Springer Show had an episode where a woman married her washing machine because sitting on it brought more pleasure than any man could.
There’s also a video floating around where a gay teen rigged a dildo on a stick to the agitator of his parents washing machine. He then sat on the dildo while the machine ran. I’m pretty sure Youtube has removed the video but you can probably find it on a porn site.
jackscott
Such a nice ending. It would be great if more families were this open!