My very good friend and colleague is in his 30s and finally came out to his family (he's been out to friends for close to 10 years). They are Texas Southern Baptists and they all went ape shit. Since July, he's been putting up with a nonstop barrage of hateful, abusive e-mails and phone calls accusing him of turning his back on god and the family, being selfish and disgusting and sinful, and of causing their stress and health problems. They are sure he can fix it if he tries, and that he won't try is just evidence that he's selfish and doesn't care about the family. He's in therapy and seeking spiritual counsel at a progressive church and is dealing with all of it okay, but he seeks support from me regularly by forwarding some of these mean e-mails to me. His friends have all joked about wanting to send a response to his mom or sisters, and I'm not going to do it, but there's a part of me that REALLY.WANTS.TO.