#family-estrangement

#family-estrangement

Signs she's avoiding or preparing to avoid me - I open the door off my dining room, call down, Mom, and she doesn't answer, even though I heard her moving around moments ago. She texts two-letter replies, such as OK and no. She locks the door off the dining room. She takes out her trash before sunrise. She stops feeding the squirrels and birds. She keeps her lights off. She keeps her phone off. She stacks cardboard boxes in the laundry room or garage or on the deck.

"We started to have issues when I began having my own opinions," says Bruce, reflecting on the growing divergence between his and Scott's perspectives during their teenage years.

"I assure my kids that the separation from their grandparent is not their fault. Nor is it their responsibility to fix it."

Many described it as a difficult and sensitive topic—one they might only share with close friends. For the most part, respondents worried about others' negative reactions or judgment.

"Financial marginalization may seem like small potatoes compared to fighting for the right to exist, but the unacknowledged systems keeping the LGBTQ+ wealth gap in place are the same systems working to erase queer history."