On Monday, British Olympic diver Tom Daley shocked the world when he came out as bisexual in a YouTube video. Since then, the 19-year-old has been receiving his fair share of praise and homo/biphobic hate from fans. But Daley surely got the greatest response so far when his grandparents showed their unconditional support for their grandson in a Daily Mail article.
Chatting with the U.K. paper, David and Rosemary Daley admitted that they were surprised that Daley is attracted to both men and women.
“We only found out at 5 p.m. on Sunday when he came to see us. We are confused because he’s always had girlfriends,” said Rosemary. “We asked him if he was absolutely sure. He’s our first grandson from our son who died.”
Despite their confusion, the elder Daleys explained that there was no hesitation in their decision to embrace their grandson’s sexuality. For them, they love Daley as he is, like they always have.
“We have always been supportive of him and we always will. We’re not old-fashioned, in fact we’re quite liberal. But I do think he’s too young to be making this sort of decision. … But we hugged him, we thanked him for coming to see us, and we’ll be seeing him over Christmas. We’ll always be here for Tom.”
It’s amazing that Daley’s grandparents are so open and supportive of him. Hopefully, many other parents and grandparents will follow in their footsteps and choose to love their children as they are instead of choosing to abandon their post as a good parent and ultimately abandon their kids over their sexuality.
Check out some other LGBT celebrities with supportive families below. –nicholas robinson
