HAMILTON, NY—In response to many celebrities, athletes, family members, and friends coming out of the closet, my grandma was adamant in explaining to me that there are way more gay people today than when she was younger.

It all began when my cousin came out three weeks ago. Then my grandma found out that Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris and Anderson Cooper are gay. She told me that she remembered her childhood, and that at the time, “there just weren’t as many gay people.” When elaborating on the changes she has noticed, she went on to say, “I’m not sure why there are more gay people today, but I think it might have something to do with some of the more famous gay people.”

When questioned further about why there were less gay people when she was younger, my grandma explained that “it wouldn’t have been as much fun,” and that while she has “no problem with the gays,” she thinks that during her childhood it probably would’ve been “more difficult to not be normal.”

My grandma went on to tell stories about how openly hateful people were towards gay people when she was younger as well as the violent acts she witnessed that were directed towards the LGBTQ community as a whole. “If I were gay when I was younger,” she remarked, “I definitely wouldn’t have told anyone.” In a last ditch effort to comprehend her theory about the amount of gay people today, my grandma attributed the trend to food preservatives, a theory which she claims to have accepted wholeheartedly after reading the contents of an email that her friend Doreen forwarded to her.