The night I was sleeping and I suddenly heard cries and yells.  I came out of my room and saw my brother and my mom crying.  I saw my mother yelling at him.  I asked, “What’s going on?”  They both ignored me.  My mom made me sit on her lap. She hid her face and cried on my back.  This was the night that our family changed our points of view about my brother.

In Brazil me and my brother had a great relationship, he is older than me so he always took great care of me. I never really stopped to notice him that much before, but going back on my thoughts, he didn’t really act the same as my middle brother. My middle brother was always in the streets playing with his friends, going out with girls and climbing the trees of my old house, while my older brother was always inside the house studying,  playing games on his computer, or even just watching TV. But nothing of that made me love both of my brothers different.

Then suddenly a day my brother come to asked “Would you still love me even if I was gay?” At the time I was really young, I was 9 years-old, so I answered him by saying “Yes, there’s nothing wrong with being gay.” Then some weeks later, I woke up with cries and yells. I came out of my room and saw my brother and my mom crying. I saw my mother yelling at him. I asked, “What’s going on?” they both ignored me. My mom made me sit on her lap. She hid her face on my back, so she could cry even more. I was sitting on my mom’s lap, right in front of my brother. I was looking straight at him. He was crying too. I did not know what to do, I was worried, and scared for not knowing what was happening.

In the first months my parents did not accept my brother's sexuality very well, my mom would pray for God to help him, put my brother in psych, but she didn’t understand that he couldn’t change. It's been years since my brother came out as a homosexual man, my mom accepts him better than before, my dad still doesn’t like the idea but him supprt his son’s decision, and me… well me, I never changed my mind since. I love my brother the way he is. Now I try to help people understand that there is nothing wrong with being gay, there is people who understand, who support, and who can help others understand as well.

People can change the way they think, they just need some time to process the information, let my parents be an example of people who changed their mind. I never changed mine but I am sure I can at least make you respect the LGBTQ+ community.