Alex Passarello, the openly gay soldier is back, with a very emotional video detailing his coming out to his Dad, and the rift it has created between them.
Alex is an American solider, previously stationed in Korea and now in Georgia (U.S.). His earlier videos, especially the one showing his return home after a long service abroad, were sure to make you tear up. Now, he will likely melt your heart again, with the touching story of how his father couldn’t handle a gay son.
“When I was 13-14 years old I started to notice that I was a little bit different than everybody else, and that I was attracted to other things that my friends weren’t attracted to.”, he tells on this new video. “I was surrounded by a Christian household and I really did think that something was wrong with me and that it needed to be fixed. So I hid it and didn’t tell anyone about it.”
That went on until he was 18 years old, at which point he was finally able to look in the mirror and accept that he’s gay – and that there’s nothing wrong with that.
At 18 Alex joined the military, left his home and went to South Korea. He was out of the closet to people around him, but not to his family. One day, he decided to change that.
“I started thinking about it and thought this is it – I’m going to call my mom. So I called her and said, “Hey Mom, it’s Alex, sit down, I have something important to tell you. Mom, I’m gay.”
She said “Ok Alex, nothing’s wrong, you’re my son, nothing changes”. That was the only thing I needed to hear at that time.
I finally took a deep breath and called my dad. “I have something to tell you Dad, it’s kind of important.” He thought that I was going to tell him I got a girl pregnant, which was kind of the opposite. Then I said, “Dad, I’m a homosexual“.
There was a long pause, and my dad said “I love you, you’re my son, nothing changes, and I’m here for you. This is a lot for me to take in and I need some time but I love you as a son”.
We wish things could have ended here, on a happy note. But several months later, when Alex had to be hospitalized one night, his dad came to the hospital with a bible in his hand.
“He sits across from me and doesn’t say one word for two hours. Then he looked at me and said “So this is the lifestyle that you’re going to choose?”
I said “Yes Dad, this is it. There’s nothing stopping me”.
After that there was just a storm of comments and things that he said that I would never ever wish, even to my worst enemy, to hear from their father. A lot of the things he said hurt a lot.
I told myself – be strong. If he sees you cry, he wins. And I can’t let that happen.
Finally it came down to “Alex, I love you, but it’s conditional. You’re welcome in our home, but you can’t come if you’re gay.”
I sat there and got my thoughts together and said “Well Dad if that’s the case then you can get up and leave. And he did just that. And I didn’t speak to him again for 6 months.”
I lost the most important person in my life to religious views. That’s the person who’s always supposed to be there for you. My dad wasn’t there for me.”
Be sure to follow Alex on Twitter or Instagram. And watch the entire heartbreaking (but inspiring) video right here:
