They're christian and very steeped in tradition, so naturally we didn't get along very well when I was young. It reached a critical point when I brought a friend home one day and they somehow assumed that made me gay. I'm not - my friend was, but a friend is still a friend. That was kind of my signal to seek my fortunes elsewhere.
I have spend about 15 years away from them now, during which I've crossed borders, got married, had a baby witch, lost my partner to cancer and generally moved on in life. I still talk to them once every couple of months or so and it's.. getting better. My father just hit 70 and he is mellowing out a LOT. My mother feels pretty left out of my life, so when we do talk it's usually only about interesting stuff that has happened. Not the boring same-old that gets on your nerves and gets you into arguments.
So, the TL;DR is that being away from them did a lot of good.