I grew up in bumfuck Texas. My family is Southern Baptist and we all know how they feel about the gay. So I can understand the predicament you’re in.
First, you know your family best, I don’t know how old you are or what your situation is but if they’re paying for your school, or you’re living at home, and you’re pretty sure there’s gonna be drama. DON’T tell them until you’re on your own and can support yourself. It’s acceptable to protect your physical stability.
Second. Make a plan. Moving somewhere else isn’t running away. I moved to WEHO after college because I wanted to live in a gay friendly environment. It can be done, but what ever you do, make a plan. Think out where you want to be, and how you want this to go, then put all the pieces in place before you act.
Third. I have five brothers, a ton of cousins, all of them Texas good ole’ boys, with their trucks and shotguns and coolers of beer. They look, sound, and posture like a straight up homophobic nightmare. But none of them have problems with my gayness. They didn’t know how to take it when I first told them, but they all came around in the end. Don’t sell your family short. My Mother who’s as devout a Southern Baptist as they come, told the preacher to get bent when he instructed her to cut me out of their lives if I wouldn’t renounce my sin and repent.
Fourth, which kind of ties in with second, you’ll never have a fulfilling life if you live it in fear of what other people are gonna say. It’s your life, you are priority one, you need to build a solid, honest, foundation for your life. There or anywhere else. In the end it’s not about the haters, and the disappointments, and the people who can’t accept, it’s about you and your life, and your happiness, and if you can’t be happy there, then be happy somewhere else.