Long story short, one of my younger cousins (male) who is 18 has been exposed by his older brother as gay. They had a huge fight in which my cousin was punched and his Dad/Mum/the rest of the family refused to talk to him. My aunt was hysterical, the family is in turmoil.
I'm currently on a funded PhD course with a stipend. (I think it's important to add that I'm known to be liberal and open minded by my entire family. That's not a positive in their eyes.) My cousin whatsapp'd me telling me everything, how they cut him out of the family, his mum kept randomly physically attacking him, their offer to take him to a religious place to be prayed on etc. So, being 100% aware of the intense backlash I'd receive, I told him to pack his stuff up and come to stay with me (I live relatively close to his school by bus, so no issues there).
He snuck out a couple of weeks ago, and I called my aunt telling her he was with me. She started cursing me, telling me I was a devil etc... I was already expecting it so it didn't bother me at all.
This is the tricky part. They've accepted that he's with me and despite their current state of shock, I know that it gives them a degree of comfort as he's in safe hands. He's got 9 months or so left until he goes off to uni but I just don't know how long I can support the both of us until then. I would never, ever tell him to leave but I'm currently on a PhD which ends in a year. I've also been told that I could have a big problem if my landlord finds out?
Could anybody give me some advice? I've never been able to be a homophobe despite being raised to be one. I've always been the odd one out in my family but I'm glad he feels he has someone to turn to.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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