Gay man shares heartwarming story of what happened when his dad found his stash of ‘beefcake’ pictures
Henri Meilhac (Unsplash.com)
When the internet came along, it opened up a whole new world for gay people.
For author Grant Ginder, that meant one specific thing: finding photos of “beefcakes” in red thongs and saving them to his family’s desktop computer.
The author went viral on Twitter after he shared his hilarious story for National Coming Out Day which queer people everywhere will relate to.
Gay author Grant Ginder spent six months curating his desktop folder of ‘beefcakes’.
“When I was 13, I began collecting pictures of hot men that I found on AOL. I kept them on my family’s computer, in a file called ‘downloads’ I thought no one looked at, and I labelled them with the one word I knew to describe hot men: beefcake.
“I don’t know where I learned the word, but at night when everyone was asleep and I was at the computer I used it heavily: ‘Beefcake in a speedo’, ‘beefcake on the beach’, ‘beefcake standing under a waterfall’ (a personal favourite).”
The photos, Ginder explained, were “of a very specific aesthetic” – buff, tanned, hairless men in red thongs.
A #NationalComingOutDay thread! When I was 13, I began collecting pictures of hot men that I found on AOL. I kept them on my family's computer, in a file called "downloads" I thought no one looked at, and I labeled them with the one word I knew to describe hot men: beefcake.
— Grant Ginder (@GrantGinder) October 11, 2019
Ginder was particularly dedicated to his curation of images of hot men in red thongs, and spent six months building up his folder before he found out that the folder was no longer a secret. One day, while driving to his friend’s house, his dad asked him a question.
“We pulled up to a stoplight (I can still remember which one) and, turning to me, he asked ‘Who’s been downloading all the pictures of the beefcakes?’
Looking him straight in the eye, I said, very gravely, ‘Dad, I think it was Mom.’
“I froze. I panicked. I thought of water splashing across a set of airbrushed abs.
“Looking him straight in the eye, I said, very gravely, ‘Dad, I think it was Mom.’”
Needless to say, Ginder’s dad was surprised by this news.
“Mom?” he said. “Huh. You think I should talk to her?”
“No – she’d probably be super embarrassed if you did,” he said.
The Twitter thread ended on a heartwarming note.
Ginder said he doesn’t know if his dad ever spoke to his mom about the “beefcakes” folder – but if he did, it was likely so they could have a laugh about it as it was incredibly obvious who had really created the folder.
“But Mom!” he wrote. “Mea culpa! I panicked, and I’m sorry about that! A braver kid would’ve said ‘f**k it, those beefcakes are MINE.’ But alas, I was 13. I wasn’t ready. Coming out is hard, and it’s something that as LGBTQ+ people we have to do every day, in a million different ways.”
The gay author’s hilarious Twitter thread ended on a heartwarming note. He thanked his mother for “taking the heat” and thanked his dad for suppressing his smile for long enough so he could pretend that he had been believed.
“I am 36 now. I’m out, happy, and in love, and that’s in no small part because of you.”
After he shared the story on Twitter, his mother called and said: “There was one of a man on a motorcycle. You had excellent taste.”
