Father’s unexpected and touching response to his son coming out

There are the kinds of stories that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and conjure up images of pansies and roses...and then there are the stories that really matter.

For those of you who think the two types are mutually exclusive, the tale of Levi Miles coming out to his father might change your mind.

Levi, a 21 year-old University of Wisconsin student, recently posted his story on his blog, "Levi's Adventures of a Nerd."

In the post, he describes in great detail how awkward and nervous he was to come out to his father, despite already being out to his mother for two years.

Levi recently posted a Facebook status that declared he was gay, which was not news to many of his friends whom he had already come out to, or whom had already suspected. The level of support he received overwhelmed him and he immediately made a thank you followup post, unaware of who would read it.

Also see: Dad's touching note saves son the trouble of coming out

The next day, his parents picked him up from school in Milwaukee, Wis. for the Easter long weekend as they often do throughout the year, but this time his father was tense. Having experienced this behaviour from his father before, Levi brushed it off and assumed nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Later when Levi got home, his father left to pick up some dinner, and his mother informed him the cat was out of the bag. His father had seen Levi's Facebook post because she had accidentally left her account open.

“Coming out to my mom was easy, but the thought of coming out to my father terrified me beyond all other things," Levi writes on his blog. "I was afraid that he'd disown me or be ashamed of who I am."

Levi says his father was not the sort of man who was open-minded about homosexuality, and Levi says he "knew he was praying that I wasn't gay."

Levi asked his mother how his dad too it, and she said he "wasn't too happy" -- mostly disappointed and hurt. Upon reading the news on Facebook, he even told his wife that if Levi was not studying theatre, he would never have ended up gay.

Also see: Manitoba teen under fire for trying to start gay-straight alliance

"We went on being polite the whole weekend but dodging the issue if the conversation even skirted close to the topic of my sexuality," writes Levi.

After a tense weekend at home, and not a peep from his father, Levi’s parents drove him to the train station so he could head back to school. A few hours later, his mom texted him.

"Your dad has funny ways of showing he loves you. Look in your backpack."

Inside, tucked between two Pathfinder rule books, was the sweet photo of Levi and his dad shown above.

On the back it says, "I will always love you, no matter what."