Homophobic ‘RHONJ’ dad says son can’t know he’s gay at 19

Have we learned nothing from the Tyler Clementi case? Dharun Ravi took the moral fall for what happened to Tyler when he threw himself off the GW Bridge but it later would come out that he seemed mostly despondent about not being accepted by his mother. Shortly before his suicide he had instant messaged a friend and confided that he was feeling very low because his mother had pretty much "completely rejected" him. Even Jane Clementi now owns up to her clouded thinking and blames her evangelical roots for distancing herself from her son.

Now we have Real Housewives Of New Jersey's Jim Marchese making stupid comments that show his homophobia. His son James claimed on a GoFundMe page that his father wouldn't pay his tuition to attend college because he was gay.

In that post James wrote "at the beginning of 2018 my father found out I was gay. This began two weeks of mental abuse that led to me being removed from his home when I told my Mom and went to court with her. Since this time, my father has been slowly cutting ties with me until I 'live according to his standards.' Essentially, this meant - and still means - that I have to be 'straight' and date women while 'admitting' that I chose to be gay so that I could get something out of it from my mother. With this, my father has refused to help in paying for any schooling because he believes I have to live in his home and follow his preferred lifestyle to be good enough to receive any financial assistance with school."

What does the father say about all this?

He says he had agreed to pay for 50% of the tuition for Rutgers but that his son wants to go to Fairfield and his mother wants to pay nothing.

So is this all a scam the 19-year-old is pulling as his father Jim believes? You can decide that for yourself.

But his father, according to NorthJersey.com, was quoted as saying the following concerning his son. "I think every human being should explore life and make a decision on who they are as a person when they're an adult, 25, 27 years old. No child should declare (their sexual preference) one way or another as it would be unfair to force them to make a decision about who they are as a person at that point in life. It's not appropriate. Kids, in my opinion, should enjoy life, have fun, figure things out, and when they're in their 20 and 30's, that's when they should decide about their career, sexuality, their partner for life."

Jim Marchese is divorced from his partner for life so being straight didn't help all that much. A Pew Research Center survey in 2013 found 12 to be the median age at which lesbian, gay and bisexual adults first felt they might be something other than heterosexual or straight. Further, the solid realization with no doubts came at a median age of 17.

Did Jim Marchese not know he was straight until almost 30? Bull$#!!. I have no idea what went on between this father and son as far as payment for college, nor do I even think college is a birthright to be paid for by the parent. So that's between them. But if Jim Marchese is going to make public statements telling the world that 19 is too young to know if you're gay, he's completely denying his son who he really is and is in complete denial himself.

Jim, your son didn't choose to be gay just like you didn't choose to be straight. It's who you both are. Get over yourself.

More from New Jersey 101.5