Homosexuality Explained

Let me start out by saying I love gay people. My husband's cousin Merril who I call my sister is gay and his brother Neil is gay as well. Come to think of it, my favorite author Augusten Burroughes is gay too! I never really thought much about it until I had to explain it to my 8 year old twin sons with comedic results.

Last October, Merril announced that she was marrying her girlfriend and we would all have the honor of being involved in the ceremony. We were thrilled because we not only love her to itty bitty pieces but also her girfriend Bec. My children share a very close relationship with both of them, so I excitedly told them how they were going to have an important role in Aunt Merril's wedding. They were really happy but wanted to know who she was marrying. I answered very simply, Bec. Max looked at me confused and after much thought said, "Wow, and all this time I thought Bec was a woman!" Trying to be mature for once in my life and not just pee myself laughing, I told him that Bec was a woman, but that their Aunt was lucky enough to find her true love and it made no difference what gender the person was. They didn't seem to want to pursue this topic any further and quite frankly I had my fill of maturity for one day.

The next time they had a run in with homosexuality was when we were visiting my husband's brother in San Francisco. We rarely see him and this was the first time since they were very young that they had spent any amount of time with him. One morning, he took them for breakfast so we could sleep in. They went to a coffee shop in the Noe Valley which is well known for it's gay population. At breakfast Neil noticed Ben reading a flier that someone had posted that read "Gay male couple looking for gay man to join them". Ben nudged Max and whispered something in his ear, but they never asked Neil about it. Relieved, Neil gave me a head's up so that I could field questions from them in an adult manner (not my forte). Later, they had mentioned that there were a lot of gay people around. I said, that was true and that their Uncle Neil was gay like their Aunt Merril. They were shocked! Then I proceeded to go into my whole, "people can fall in love with whoever they want as long as it makes them happy" speech. Despite my ridiculously poor parenting skills, they seemed to get the concept.

Unfortunately, now they are at an age where kids are calling each other gay for demeaning reasons. When I catch them, I ask how they would think their Aunt or Uncle would feel and if they would be ok with hurting them with those words. Of course they have no defense, and knock the crap off immediately.

Merril and Neil I can't thank you enough for enabling me to teach my kids such an important life lesson at their young age. I bet you guys never thought I'd be capable enough!