I had an outburst the other night and called out my boyfriend's family members. I have no regrets - it was the right thing to do. There will be ramifications however of which I feel rather awkward. My boyfriend stood up for me (how wonderful) and the result may be hostility between him and his family.

The story is they are heavy drinkers. One brother is awful. Amongst all the negatives I could use to describe him he is first and foremost a cruel bully - and the rest of the family seems to feed off of his actions mostly finding humour in them which only eggs him on further.

The target of his relentless torture was a young man (25+) who has some obvious problems. Perhaps he is Aspergers or mildly autistic; regardless, he stands out as being different. And it was these differences upon which my boyfriend's brother pounced and launched a relentless attack. For 20 minutes this poor boy was tortured by the bullying and jeers of the some 15 people around the camp fire.

I couldn't stand it any more so took action. I jumped up and told them all off. Their behaviour was inexcusable. I may have even used the word disgusting, etc, etc.

I stormed off to our own campsite. As I left I heard my boyfriend having his own words with his siblings and family. By the tone of it he seemed to be backing me up.

The rest of the night and following day were as you can imagine tense and awkward.

I expect I am now persona non grata. What does the future hold for the relationships between my boyfriend and his family? I have put him in a very difficult position indeed.

Still I have no regrets. In fact I am proud of myself for having had the courage to have spoken up.

Have you had to stand up against friends/family to do what's right? Has your significant other been placed in a position on your account of having to choose between you and family? Is there awkwardness between you and them?