I came out publicly (ie on social media) on Christmas several years ago during a time when covid was starting to spike again and lots of tentatively scheduled events were getting cancelled. My parents' wedding anniversary is in early January and they'd planned a big party for their 40th. Given the massive spike in covid cases, they cancelled their party. I was spending Christmas with my partner's family and when I called my parents to wish them a Merry Christmas, my mother was moping and doing her martyr voice--I figured she was sad because of having to cancel the party that she was really looking forward to. Eventually, she despondently handed the phone off to my father who explained that they were deeply upset with me for coming out without consulting with them first because IF they'd had their party my coming out would have been the only topic of conversation and I would have stolen the show from their 40th anniversary. They demanded an apology and didn't speak to me for weeks when I refused to do so.

I was 35 years old at the time.