My first roommate was a lesbian (still is I'm sure
) and she couldn't find a way to tell her mom even though she thought there was a chance she would be okay with it. So one Christmas, when she was 17, she gave her mom a bunch of presents. The last one was a book, titled something like "How parents accept their gay children". Her mom burst into tears and once she calmed down, put her arms around her. They've been alright ever since.
I thought that was a very bold way to out herself, but for someone who just couldn't say the words, I thought it was the right thing to do. Her mom had an immediate reference as to how to deal!
She had thought about saying it all "subliminally". She thought she could be at the dinner table, chatting away and then say "so I'm a lesbian, could you pass the salt?"
That would've been damn funny.