Gay Man Heartbroken By Mother’s Reaction To His Engagement

In 2020 we’ve had to connect with our family, friends and other loved ones via technology. Henry Jimenez had to deliver the news of his engagement to his mother via a video call, but her reaction to him marrying the love of his life was heartbreaking.

Jimenez, a 21-year-old photographer shared a video on TikTok and Instagram of him announcing the news to his mum with the caption, “This as I said IS SO HARD for me to share.” The video soon went viral. 

The conversation between him and his mother in Spanish, but captioned in English, began with the photographer searching for words to inform her of the news, “What did I want to tell you…” the captions read.

After finally coming across the words to say what he wanted. He told her that his boyfriend Kasey Kerbox proposed to him, and he said yes.

“I want to invite you,” Jimenez explains. “But I know you don’t approve that I’m marrying my boyfriend.”

 But from there the conversation takes an immediate dive south, which can be seen in the Instagram post where the happy husband-to-be has the happiness just flush from his face.

“I can’t believe you’re being serious about this,” his mother is captioned as saying. “Do you know that’s a sin in front of the eyes of God? Do you know that?”

Tearing up, he attempts to fight his mothers conservative view, pleading with her to understand.

“I’m not gonna change, if that’s what you think!” says Jimenez. 

“You’re so wrong. You can’t see it but you’re so wrong,” she shoots back. “At what point did you meet that guy? That guy has blinded you, he doesn’t want anything to do with God.”

Jimenez breaks down when his mother tells him, “every time you talk to me about that, you make me sad. You make me sicker than I already am.”

 As Jimenez attempts to say that he would talk to her at a later time his mothers continues to speak over him.

“The day I die, you are gonna be the one who kills me, because I’m always thinking about all the stuff you’ve done wrong.”

“You do wrong. You sin,” she pushes on as Jimenez stops responding. “Think really hard about what you’re doing. Think about it and don’t sin for Satan,” before Jimenez finally hangs up.

With over 500,000 views Jimenez has no intention of calling off the engagement.

“I got a message from a kid telling how much he felt inspired after watching this and told his parents his biggest secret,” he wrote when posting the video to Instagram. “That makes me so happy and makes it all worth it.”

Continuing to share the video Jimenez says he is encouraging others to do so as well to “remind people that everything is gonna be okay.”

Jimenez was born in Comalcalco, Mexico, and is based in Mexico City. He has recently shot campaigns for luxury brands Carolina Herrera, Bershka, and Merkabá.

Kerbox surprise-proposed to Jimenez on their recent trip through the snow in mountainous northern Alaska. The video of the proposal itself has over 70,000 likes on Jimenez’s main Instagram page. He called it the “easiest Yes” in his life.

If you feel distressed reading the story, you can reach out to support services.

For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14

For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.