When a child decides to come out to a parent, the intense emotions they must feel right before the conversation have to be extremely overwhelming. Because even though parents are supposed to love you unconditionally, we've all seen these situations take terrible turns in the past: parents can react horribly, disown children, reject their sexuality or send them to conversion therapy. You just never know what kind of reaction you're going to get from a loved one when you tell them about your true self.
Thankfully, when twin brothers Austin and Aaron Rhodes, both models living in Los Angeles, got their father on the phone recently to tell him that they were both gay, they got the reaction that people so desperately need and deserve when they are doing something as important as coming out. Especially when they are coming out to a parent.
"With 2015 now here, we think it is time to finally just be ourselves," they write in the YouTube description. "We hope by our actions today you can finish watching this video feeling encouraged and inspired. Thank you for all the support. We love you."
In the video, both Austin and Aaron take some time to choke back tears and gather the strength to tell their father. And when they finally do, their dad says a couple of things in response to his kids telling him that they are gay, but the very first thing he tells them is the most important thing to hear from a parent:
"I love you both."
After the phone call, Aaron shared this photo of his father on Instagram with this heartwarming caption: "This is the man behind the phone call. My dad. His words will inspire so many and I can't even begin to express how incredibly proud of him I am."