News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media

We're all out for Thanksgiving

Considering my family is from a college town in Michigan, we're a little different than most on the block. I'm the family gay, and to Thankgiving, I bring my girlfriend of four years and our two pugs. My sister and her black husband have a new baby, and these things make us a little different from the other households in my family's subdivision (at least from what I can tell).

It's our first Thankgiving all together (my sister's husband and baby and one of my pugs are all new developments), so I'm hoping I can get some kind of great embarassing or at least kind of funny Turkey Day story out of it, because I don't have one yet. This is unfortunate, as the holidays are the perfect time for these kinds of stories.

Take, for instance, the lesbian couple in What's Cooking. Kyra Sedgwick and Juliana Margulies play girlfriends, and Sedgwick's character's parents put them in twin beds, refusing to accept them as a couple. How awkward! Luckily neither of them mind shoving into one twin bed together.

To make matters even funnier (not worse, most definitely funnier) is that the two have an announcement to make: they are pregnant, by Rachel's (Sedgwick) brother's wife's gay brother. That's right, homophobic parents. As one of the other family members explains to the upset mother and father, "Rachel is a lesbian — you know, like Ellen."

Thank god for Ellen, right? How else could some of us explain what we mean by "lesbian"? Can you imagine some of our families filling out the ballot for the Visibility Awards? I think it would be Ellen all around. Maybe a Rosie or Melissa, but most definitely Ellen.

Now it's your turn to share. Any ridiculously awful moments in your Thanksgiving history? Do you expect this one to be particularly memorable? If you can't tell us, who can you tell?

Xisca's picture

So...

Any funny stories anyone?

 

We don't have Thanksgiving day in Spain, so I'll wait for Christmas... 

Model through it's picture

I came out to my parents

I came out to my parents after the rest of my family had gone home on Thanksgiving. I was helping my mom clean up, my dad was in the living room watching "The Last King of Scotland" (forever associating my coming out with people being dismembered and sewn back together). I asked my mom to turn the sink off and I asked her "you love me no matter what, right?" "Oh God, Anna, what did you do? Did you get fired? Did you hurt someone? Oh God! Did you kill someone?!" "No, I'm gay" "Oh Jesus! Is that it? Don't ever scare me like that again" Then my dad shouted from the livingroom "I kinda figured"

 

"There is homophobia in every corner and pocket of this world, but at the core ... you just love someone and want to make mixedtapes for them" -Sara Quin

Model through it's picture

I should probably mention

I should probably mention the reason my mom jumped to the conclusion that I'd murdered someone was because I was already sobbing uncontrolably.

 

"There is homophobia in every corner and pocket of this world, but at the core ... you just love someone and want to make mixedtapes for them" -Sara Quin

yaddayadda's picture

which reminds me

Over the years, when I've been in similar situations w/my mom, with me upset and trying to tell her something I did or whatever, her immediate reaction was always, without fail, "are you pregnant??" Mothers! ;)
ksong's picture

LOL

It's so true!

When my daughter came out to us 2 years ago, she started out with this really serious face and told us (me and my husband) taht she needed to tell us something, and before she could get a word in edgewise, I shrieked "OH MY GOD, YOU DID IT. YOU GOT PREGNANT. YOU'RE MAKING ME A GRANDMOTHER AT THE AGE OF 31 AREN'T YOU, AREN'T YOU?!!"  and she looked at me and went "I bet you didn't have this conversation with my grandmother." and then told us she was bisexual. 

This year, my daughter who is now 18 is not coming home for Thanksgiving (we live in LA, she went to NYU this school year) It's too far, etc, etc. When my daughter called us to say she wasn't coming home, I was driving home with the other kids in the car and she was on speaker. She says "I have something to tell you, but you can't freak out" and before I could say "I'm not going to freak out!" my  youngest child, who is 5 said, "you're not going to be a grandma, mommy!" rofl. 

This is the child, who at last Thanksgiving told my daughter's boyfrien (very proudly) that she kissed another boy at school and got in trouble, but I said it was okay. (Technically, I just said that it was natural and okay, but that friends only kissed people on the cheek because my daughter is crazy and kissed this boy on the mouth!!!! Anyway/ So my youngest tells my daughter's boyfriend about how she kissed her little best friend who happens to be a boy and then she says "but Maya kisses boys AND girls on the mouth" which stunned everyone into momentary silence. 

jamlawgirl's picture

What a great story! I

What a great story!

I laughed out loud at your father yelling that he'd figured from the living room. It didn't even warrant him missing a few minutes of the movie to go into the kitchen. LOL

littlenikki15's picture

I kinda figured

lmao the dad part was so funny. I laughed so hard at that. Ur so lucky they didn't care

littlenikki15's picture

I kinda figured

lmao the dad part was so funny. I laughed so hard at that. Ur so lucky they didn't care

Cassandra's picture

Then my dad shouted from

Then my dad shouted from the livingroom "I kinda figured"

...best reaction EVer.

lafemme777's picture

We'll See....

Trish, I'm in a very similar boat this year!  This Thanksgiving is the first year in many that I've even travelled back to my mother's, and I'll be bringing my girlfriend with me.  We moved in together in October and my mom has been very supportive.  My sister will also be there with her boyfriend, who is black (we are white).  She has also been perfectly accepting of him, especially since he's the nicest guy my sister has dated in forever!  I'm expecting it to be a pretty comfortable and fun day.

My father has been less than accepting of both my and my sister's relationships.  He's shocked and appalled to think his 2 girls are dating a woman and a black man.  Too bad.  He doesn't get to meet her, then!  And he can be excluded from my Thanksgiving, it that's how he's going to be.  He'll get over it eventually.  ;)

 

"Yes, well, their poster-child doesn't know it yet, but she's into me." - Lucy Diamond

yaddayadda's picture

Eh.

Well, last Thanksgiving was pretty awful, because my dad had recently passed away and it was the first time since that the 3 of us who remain had sat at the table together to eat, his empty chair a sad reminder, blah, blah, blah. This year, we're "skipping Thanksgiving" altogether. /DebbieDowner

But I do always enjoy the dog show. 

jamlawgirl's picture

Non sequitur

Has nothing to do with the topic (but I'm Jamaican and a vegetarian so Turkey Day doesn't mean much to me, plus I'm in Cali far away from my family and I'm certainly not coming out to them any time soon, certainly not before the year is out. Wow that was a long aside), but I thought Trish Bendix was British for some reason.

Great pic of Ellen, BTW.

Lana's picture

I tought Trish was British

I tought Trish was British too. I don't know why, maybe it's the name. And her looks likes it's taken in England.
Clara's picture

i kept reading your sentence

i kept reading your sentence over and over, i wondered why my brain was making me re-read it.. i realised its cus my chidhood bf was called rachel sedgwick and you put those two words together, was making my brain confused!
Angie5x5's picture

Drunk lesbians at Thanksgiving

There was that first Thanksgiving I spent with family members I hadn't seen in years in arguably the most conservative Christian part of California.

I'm sitting around the dinner table with two people who sexually abused me as a child, and my stepbrother, Henry, who had just that week realized that my girl-friend was my girlfriend and removed my Air Force portrait from his military wall of honor as a result. Needless to say, I wasn't enjoying myself - until the guests I didn't know about showed up.

We were having Thanksgiving dinner at Henry's stepdaughter's house and her husband had invited his lesbian cousin and her girlfriend from Las Vegas. While I was trying to be as unoffensive in my gayness as possible, they proceeded to get drunk and kiss in front of everyone and have an argument and cry and kiss some more. My stepbrother ended up leaving while most of us were still eating, and one of my other brothers spent most of the night attempting to flirt with the lesbians - between their makeout sessions.

It may have started out awkward for me, but by the end of the night I was having a good time and my stepbrother's Thanksgiving was ruined - by his own obstinance.

Then there's the year my grandmother couldn't afford a turkey, so she made a turkey-shaped meat loaf, but there's nothing gay about that.

natz's picture

omg a turkey shaped meat

omg a turkey shaped meat loaf is so cute, i heart your grandmother for that :D
andrea's picture

turkey day

I am thankful for my girlfriend. enough said :D
jam's picture

best.thanksgiving.ever.

I took my girlfriend to my parent's house for Thanksgiving a few years ago. We had been dating for a while but my mom didn't like that i was gay and she really didn't like my girlfriend.

She was always trying so hard to get my mom to like her so she decided she would make the Thanksgiving dinner to impress my mom. It went really well, the turkey looked so awesome that my mom wanted to take a picture of her, my girlfriend and the turkey (weird, i know). So they pose for the pic....my mom, all smiles.....my girlfriend, holding the turkey on a platter.....then...... she drops the turkey.

silence

everyone just stares at the turkey covered floor, i was sweating bullets, you could cut the silence with a knife....until my girlfriend says "anyone for floor turkey?"

everyone cracked up, especially my mom....they have gotten along ever since. The floor turkey brought us all closer together. lol.

katy Gnosis's picture

awww

jam, you put me in good spirits with your story... I've never had any of my gfs over for Thanksgiving, and I seriously don't even know why...

Connie's picture

No funny stories from me

No funny stories from me but I enjoyed reading everyone elses. Plus I'm Chinese so we either order in "Thanksgiving" food from somewhere close or do hot pot. This year we ordered in, so it should be interesting in what some of my relatives think of this crazy american food. 

"So put me on a plane, and fly me to anywhere...with you"-Augustana

Mo's picture

Awkward Much...

Thanksgiving at my first girlfriend's house a few years ago:

I went to my girlfriend's house for Thanksgiving break during college. We spent four days with her family and they didn't know she was gay or that we were together. Her mom loved me- she said I was like a second daughter -all the while I was having "special alone time" with her little girl across the hall every night. It was awkward... I mean how do you look a woman in the face when you've "had your way" with her daughter the night before. Looking back it was really funny, but at the time it was stressful and difficult. Since then I've decided closeted women were not my thing, but it was definitely the most memorable Thanksgiving I've ever had.

katy Gnosis's picture

Thanksgiving moments

So, I’ve not had the typical "embarrassing" Thanksgiving moment, except I’m really sensitive when my turn comes to say what I’m thankful for and I end up crying. Followed by my sister crying, then my brother, then practically my whole family… I think I’ll pass this year!

We also play Taboo and charades and the only problem with that is keeping it clean for the kiddies… 

 

I've tried to do handstands for you...

bugle_boi's picture

too young

I'm only 16 so I doubt I'll have moments like that this year or the next, but it will probably happen in the future when I bring a girlfriend home... and I'm sure my super-conservative family will be left quite unsure how to react. hahahaha :]

i'm actually curious to see what my family would do if I dropped the gay bomb at any of the holidays. i'm excited to be at the point where i'd be ready to be truthful like that.

oh well. there's always christmas. :]

Sarah C.'s picture

Memories...

A year ago, my family was invited to Thanksgiving lunch by our good family friends. Now understand that our families are very, very, very close, I grew up with their kids and the mom considers me part of the family and all that. Their cousin was actually my first girlfriend, but no one knew this at the time, and we had gone through a rough break up and left with bad feelings. So we walk into their house and guess who is there? My lovely ex-girlfriend who I haven't seen since I graduated from high school. Yay. So the whole time we're eating she sits across the table from me and just gives me these dagger eyes, and I'm trying to pretend not to notice, and drinking more and more wine, while her aunt keeps pouring me more. She said some nasty things at dinner, too, in front of everyone, enough for even the most oblivious to take notice. And my brother (who's the only one that knew about us and about my sexuality at the time) just keeps laughing and laughing. So he's laughing, she's glaring, everyone else is so confused, and I'm half-drunk, mortified, and want to crawl under the table and die.

The night ended with my brother driving me home plastered, and her calling me to apologize later that night. Still the most memorable Thanksgiving ever.

drip's picture

I think if I lived in a

I think if I lived in a country that celebrated ThanksGiving (i.e. USA), I would use my turn to say thanks with a bit of tongue in cheek...

 

"I am thankful for my loving and understanding family who are not going to overreact, freak out, cry, or banish me from their house when I tell them at Xmas that Stacy Maree is not my roomate but rather my lesbian lover... oh, and I am thankful that I was able to sneakily replace the turkey bastor after my sister confessed she tried to get pregnant with it... P.S I'm thankful I'm vegetarian after i saw what my  brother was doing to the turkey earlier.... maybe we should have pizza"

 

I think a gay daughter would be the least of their concerns after that thanks giving speech

monica_ca's picture

Oh my...

...that would make for quite the memorable Thanksgiving ;)
Elisabeth's picture

One and only Thanksgiving story

Ive only ever celebrated Thanksgiving once. That was last year when i was on an exchange programme in Amerika. I had first planned to go to Chicago, but because off circumstance i ended up going to a friends house, together with his Ukranian girlfriend (who lived across from me) and my stupid spanish roommate. Now im from Holland so know nothing off Thanksgiving etiquette except what i had seen on tv. The whole thing just ended up being really akward. My friend and his brother ended up having a fight, so he hardly spoke to us the whole weekend, his girlfriend kept trying to compensate while his mother yelled at him. My roommate followed me around the whole weekend and i just didnt know what to do with myself. But the highlight (and also the gay moment off the weekend), was my friends best friend. She came around and well started flirting with me, lol, to my huge surprise. Then she invited us over to her huge house, where she proceeded to kiss me in the basement while everybody was playing WII baseball upstairs. It was a weird but lovely evening and i never saw her again, lol. That weekend will forever haunt me ;-)
Coop's picture

Deployed

This year, I will not be spending Thanksgiving with my girlfriend. Even though I'm not american, she is. we have made a tradition to celebrate it.

Most of this year she has been in Afghanistan, so i will have both drumsticks to myself. :) hopefully we will spend Chanukah  together.:D

Coop's picture

Deployed

.
Mo's picture

Deployed- Ditto

I'm right there with you Coop. My girlfriend is deployed this year too and it sucks for the secret families of military personnel. You're not alone- cheers to you and all of us missing our loved ones. Take care:D
Coop's picture

Feels really good to

Feels really good to know, 

I'm sure a lot of gay and straight couples are going through the same thing.

 Cheers to you.

 

Evyn's picture

bad day after Thanksgiving

The holiday went very well.  We had friends over and had a great time (or so I thought).

The next day I went to work and when I got home, my girlfriend of 4 years had moved out!  That has been my worst holiday ever... 

cptnjess's picture

my extended family is

my extended family is mennonite. So. They don't know, nor will they ever. I just endure all the questions about my short hair and just don't think about it.

This year's thanksgiving was much the same.

texxx's picture

Just came out to my parents.....

I actually just came home to Fort Worth, Texas for Thanksgiving this week (I live in LA), determined to tell my mom that I was bisexual and currently had a girlfriend (she knew her as my friend but nothing more). Who greets me at the airport but my family AND my ex-boyfriend from Houston who had driven 5 miles to surprise me. My mom had arranged the whole thing because she was hoping we'd get back together because she loves him so much and we'd only broken up in May because I decided not to move to Houston to be with him. 

Needless to say, it made it a lot harder to tell her that night with him in the guest room next door, but I did it anyways....... and she took it well. She said she kind of knew already and she just wanted me to be happy. The only concern she had was about my poor ex-boyfriends heart being broken. He was kind of like Tim on L Word, or at least early Tim, because he was innocent in the break up and , well, wasn't. I kissed my first girl while we were together and then left him to "figure things out". 

Anyways....can't wait to get back to LA (or as my dad calls it, the land of the fruits and nuts) to be with my girlfriend!

myocardial_stunning's picture

ive decided

that next thanksgiving i will be with my gf and her family and then i will have funny stories to tell random people :)

~to cure rarely, to relieve often, but to console, always...~

Katharyn R. King's picture

Regarding Deployment

Salutations !

Although half my family is originally from England (myself included), we have been in the States long enough to tag along with this American tradition. Also, ignore the other side of the family that is filled with Jews. Hooray for Chrismukah !

Anyway, to get to the point...

My girlfriend is currently serving in Iraq and I will be heading to Afghanistan next Fall, so we were apart this Thanksgiving and we will be again next year. It's a sad thing, I know, and yes, quite difficult ! But I am thankful to be loved by a fellow soldier, and I am thankful to this country for giving me the opportunity to serve in its Army, even though many, many people in certain states of late (i.e. California, Florida and Arkansas) do not deserve my sacrifice, or my girlfriend's.

As usual, I spent Turkey Day with my only living Grandmother and my uncle. My father had to work. I'm sure I will never tell my grandmother I am gay; although, considering my deplorable lack of curiosity regarding members of the opposite sex, her gaydar should be off the scale by now. I'm also sure my uncle probably knows.

Suffice it to say, everyone in my immediate family already knows I am gay, so there will be no surprise "coming out" revelations during a holiday celebration with lots of extended family there to shock into coronaries, leaving the siblings and such to simply laugh it off. I wish ! No, no, we have a small family. There were only 5 of us at dinner last night, 4 technically if you don't count my sister's boyfriend/fiancé (their relationship status changes weekly). Everyone else (i.e. cousins) are either in England or are practising Jews, so naturally, they don't celebrate. Besides, Jews don't need another excuse to get together to eat!

I have yet to bring any girlfriend to a holiday feast...

I think the only households I could do that in would be either my dad's or my mum's (maybe--crazy Stepdad situation there, so it's a toss-up) apart from each other.

 

The whole family is dysfunctional...but then, it's filled with Brits and Jews, how can it not be insane ?! I'm the NORMAL one !

 

Cheers,

Kat

 

 

 

 

 

~*royal[artisan]*~

"No matter what may come, I will not change my heart, nor the commitment I have made to stand firmly by it."-Me

BAS's picture

Jews don't do Thanksgiving?

I never thought it was a Christian thing.  I thought it was like the 4th of July.

I don't have any exciting Thanksgiving stories - my extended family is too far away so it was always just my immediate family.  I did have a nice vent with my sisters about Prop 8 this weekend though.  None of us have yet had a serious enough significant other to bring home - I'm hoping my sister has a boyfriend to bring home before I have a girlfriend, so if my parents are weird they can't blame it on the first sig other for a holiday, and I'll have a precident for it.

JerseyGirl's picture

Jews do celebrate Thanksgiving

I'm not entirely sure why Ms. King's Jewish relatives don't celebrate Thanksgiving. However, I am Jewish and Thanksgiving is one of my family's favorite holidays! BAS, you were right in thinking that "it was like the 4th of July." It's an American holiday, not a Christian one therefore making it similar to Independence Day.
jam's picture

not a christian thing......

thanksgiving is a secular holiday not a religous holiday. It is a celebration of harvest.  It is also not an just an American holiday.....don't forget about Canada folks.

 just because Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October..... doesn't mean they don't have feelings too. lol.

Parker's picture

My family loves...

My family loves my ex-girlfriend. They all know that I'm gay (though they haven't been told, it's just ridiculously obvious), but we don't talk about it or deal with it- I'm fine with it, they won't ever be, that's just the way it is. But, my ex's family doesn't celebrate any mainstream holidays, and she wanted to come with me to thanksgiving a couple years ago, so I brought her with me as my "friend." My vegetarian, black, Muslim friend. They knew she was a veg head before she came over, so my uncle, who was frying the turkey, hung it up at the entrance of my grandmother's patio, so it was the first thing we saw when we got there. And they kept trying to pass her vegetables during the meal, like she was an alien and they couldn't comprehend that she would eat what she could eat and be fine with it. So funny.
Ange's picture

My family does the same

My family does the same "you're a vegetarian you must be an alien" thing. Its cool that your family is accepting, in their own way, I guess.

-Ange

 http://www.spinner.com/category/laugh-rage-cry/ Tegan and Sara on Prop 8.

msn messenger: the.ange@live.com

itsmehannah's picture

The Turkey Baster Incident.

  Soooo. funny story... :)

I had come out to my mom a couple of months before last years thanksgiving and she did not take it well by any stretch of the mind. (Presbeterians are like that) 

But last thanksgiving becuase of family health we decided to transfer the usual festivities from my Mimi's house to my Moms house so she got the job of making the turkey. that year she had taken the time to buy one of those bags that bastes the turkey for you or at least keeps in the moisture or whatever. Anyway. the turkey and everything was delicious and we had made it through the meal without wany huge gay explosions( as my mom feared there would be)

And she calls me and my perfectly sweet sister out to the kitchen to clean up. So im keeping my head down and scraping the last of the mashed potatoes out of the huge pan when my mom starts shouting across the kitchen " who needs this?!" and to my horror I see her wielding around her head a turkey baster. suddenly we lock eyes and I start cracking up dying laughing. SHe immediately threw the turkey baster back in the drawer and stormed out of the kitchen. leaving me to my sister's confused looks, my pot of potatoes and anticipation of a lecture soon to follow.

Good times...

"Men plan, God laughs"

Malia Kuuleialoha's picture

my little cousin

my cousins 7 year old son out of nowhere in the middle of dessert: Do you have sex with women?

Me (drops fork) : um you are way to young to be asking that question

7 year old: YOU DO DON'T YOU giggles 

Me : Great, another wonderful thanksgiving.

Xisca's picture

hahaha

what a cousin!!!
Kris's picture

Great Thanksgiving

This year's Thanksgiving was really great. I was able to talk with my family about why LGBT rights are important to me. I am very lucky and my whole family (extended family included) is very supportive of me. They agreed with me on everything because they see it as a civil rights issue. I was so happy to hear them say that because that means that we all have a few more allies on our side.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

www.kristinamichelle.wordpress.com

Becky C.'s picture

Jammin Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Eve is the day I rock -and I am glad I went out, it sounds like Rosie's show was something well worth missing:) Hope you guys and everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving--in the country maybe there are finally some things to be thankful for. ~Becky
deborina's picture

Reunited for Thanksgiving

My family is - like many of ours - a mix of chosen family and stuck-with-us-for-life family.  My parents, however, have nothing to do with me or my sister or my brother.  They're kind of kooky to say the least.  They've chosen never to know my sister's kids or mine, and I doubt they ever will.  The happy news is that my siblings and I have become very close as a result. 

This summer, my sister and her family moved from the Midwest to Boston, and for the first time in over 20 years, we're living in the same time zone AND finally had Thanksgiving together.  We invited some of our chosen family to join us, and we all had a fantastic holiday.   My brother and his wife are in Seattle, but it's looking like his wife may bring them east for her residency program next year.  Fingers crossed!

http://www.peachesandcoconuts.com

smallfish444's picture

Oh boy

So, in order for this story to make sense you have to understand my family -- 

We spend every thanksgiving with my bitterly divorced mother and her family, just your typical highly dysfunctional, slightly obese, overly christian suburban family.

My aunt has been out for a few years now, after having been married for years and having two daughters. She's had a few steady girlfriends and has no problem bringing them to our family gatherings, and our family never hold a grudge against them. Apart from the fact that they never recognize my aunt's girlfriends as girlfriends. They're always her FRIEND.

I came out last year to my direct family and my aunt knows. My older cousin found out from something I posted on my facebook, but apart from that, no one in my extended family knows. 

Until Thanksgiving, when my younger cousin and I were online and I've gotten so comfortable with my sexuality and being out, that I kept forgetting to censor myself. And she came across a post on my facebook where one of my friends had mentioned me being gay. And my cousin (who's mother is gay) goes "WHOAH. YOU'RE A LESBIAN" incredibly loudly and my whole family looks over at us. 

I wasn't sure how to react so I kept my eyes fixed on my cousin and was trying not to laugh. My aunt starts laughing and even her shy girlfriend started giggling. Then my obese grandpa hollers "Well FOR CHRISSAKE THERE'S CHILDREN IN THE ROOM." (keep in mind the youngest person in my family is my 12 year old brother who knows I'm gay), then my grandma goes "Oh Lord, please forgive my family, *mumblemumblemumble*" and my aunt, her girlfriend and I just start laughing hysterically. My cousin, still confused screams "WELL. ARE YOU?!" 

 

Then we went bowling.  

 

Shannon's picture

That sounds like the

That sounds like the perfectly lesbian thing to do given the situation and the company.  You have given me a little spark of enjoyment for the evening, thank you so much! 

My family is somewhat similar, except they've given up on asking God to save me ;)  

Ever seen Home for the Holidays?  If you haven't, I suggest you watch it.  You'll feel right at home.

Verde's picture

oh girl

That sounds like a fun way to go. 

 

 

 

Take a sad song and make it better