Hi everyone,

I am a 34 year old female who for the past 12 years was married to a man and have two children.

About 18 months ago I came out to everyone and my husband and I have separated (for a lot of reasons other than my sexuality although that was big too). My parents are somewhat homophobic and just cant accept the fact that their daughter is a lesbian and wants to be with women. The thing is I now have a female partner whom I have been with for 7 months and my parents are prejudice against her because she is female and has tattoos!! Despite the fact that I am so happy with her and she is smart and a lovely person and makes a lot of effort with my kids, they just cant move past their issues.

They have created so much negativity these past 18 months.

They just cant accept the fact that my relationship ios over. They love my ex-husband and he is a great guy in so many ways, but we were just both so unhappy for so long. Ive always known that I was attracted to women and now I am being myself. Whats made it worse is that I have changed my appearance somewhat with a hair cut and I constantly hear about how much it doesn't suit me and how I'm not the daughter they knew before, etc....

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I just don't know how to handle it well. I try not to let it get to me, but it does.