Kailyn Lowry & Son Elliott Discuss Jo Rivera, Family’s Reaction to Coming Out

Kailyn Lowry helped her son Elliott come out to her fans.

Curious fans and some clearly homophobic commenters alike both wondered about Jo Rivera and his family.

How did they respond to his coming out? How did he come out to them?

It all started, it turns out, with a betrayal from a now former friend. But the story gets happier from there.

In a new bonus episode of her Barely Famous podcast, Kailyn Lowry welcomed son Elliott for a second installment.

Previously, Elliott explained why he no longer goes by Isaac and opted for his middle name. He also came out publicly as gay.

Many of Kail’s fans — and detractors — had questions about how his other family, particularly father Jo Rivera and his family, had responded to Elliott’s big news.

On the podcast, Elliott revealed that dad Jo Rivera found out that he was gay after a classmate outed him in fifth grade.

But, he explained, he wasn’t “fully” out until seventh grade. For those who live in safe families and communities, middle and high school are fairly common times to come out.

A lot of homophobic weirdos have been flooding Kail’s posts over the past week, condemning her for supporting her son.

Some have insisted that Jo must be upset that his son is gay, presumably due to their own bigotry. And yes, Elliott has seen these comments.

“There are certain things that bother me, like when people talk about you, or my relationship with my dad,” Elliott admitted to Kailyn.

“Like, just let me speak about it myself,” he emphasized. “You don’t need to say any of that. You don’t know me.”

Elliott emphasized that he has a close bond with his paternal grandmother, Janet.

However, he said, she struggled when he first came out to her.

“My grandma, I love her to death,” Elliott affirmed. “But, I didn’t love how she kind of brought religion into it.”

“It was just very odd to me because before she started talking about that, she asked me about my beliefs,” he recalled.

“And I told her I’m not really spiritual and she started to bring God into the situation and I just thought it wasn’t necessary and it wasn’t related.”

Elliott continued: “And she also kind of mentioned, like, I shouldn’t go and tell people that I’m gay because I don’t know who I am yet. She said it very subtly. It wasn’t direct. That’s what she was saying basically.”

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A post shared by Isaac Rivera (@isaacelliottr)

After that, Elliott told Kailyn Lowry, he avoided discussing his sexuality to or around her.

“She realizes now that I am who I am and that’s not going to change. It’s OK now,” he emphasized. “She won’t do that anymore. But I think at the time it was hard for her.”

Kail chimed in: “She’s from a generation older than me, and I’m not justifying it or excusing it. I told you my feelings when you originally told me that, but she does come from a different generation even above me. And millennials are deconstructing all of this. It might have taken her time to come to terms with it, unfortunately.”

Very true! Even though Zoomers like Elliott overall have an easier time coming out than generations before them, our society remains deeply homophobic.

For that, look no further than the trolls giving Kail a hard time for taking Elliott to Pride.

Kailyn Lowry & Son Elliott Discuss Jo Rivera, Family’s Reaction to Coming Out was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.