But If Gay People Have Families, What Will You Tell Your Kids?

One (ignorant) argument I always hear against marriage equality or adoption equality is that if gay couples get married and/or have children, the bigots some people don't know how to explain the concept to children. Well,bigots confused people, be confused no more! We addressed that issue in my house tonight with our four year old, and I would like to share with you how it went.

There's a boy in Little Diva's class we will call B. B and Little Diva have known each other since they were 18 months old and went to The Little Gym and then eventually preschool together. When they were in the same class at The Little Gym and at their first school, one of B's mommies was always with him. Same when they had swim class together. Since the kids started their new school last year, B's other mommy (who stopped working when she had twins) has been the one we see all the time. In the three years Little Diva has known B, it has never occurred to her that she used to see one lady all the time and then she started seeing another lady all the time. It didn't even occur to her when she saw them together and heard mention of B's mommies.

Flash-forward to tonight: At dinner, Little Diva is telling us how B's older sister got sick, so his mommy came to pick her up, but he stayed at school. And then she paused for a minute and started marveling at how big B's family was. When trying to count his family members, Little Diva said "Omigosh! He has daddy and his mommy and his older sister and his baby sister and his baby brother! That's, like seven [sic] people in his family!". When she said "his daddy," Pop Culture Dad and I looked at each other, and he gave me a glance that said "you take this one!".

When Little Diva was done with her (erroneous) counting, I first corrected the number and then the family structure. "Honey," I said, "[B] doesn't have a daddy; he has two mommies." So how did Little Diva react to this earth shattering news? "Oh! Okay! So he has two mommies and his older sister and his baby brother and his baby sister and him. Six. That's six people. That's a big family!" Yeah, I'd say she handled it just fine.

So if you're one of those assholespeople who thinks that others should be denied the basic and fundamental civil right of marriage and family simply *because you're worried about how in the world we're supposed to explain this kind of thing to our kids, worry no more. Chances are, they'll probably handle the issue better than you apparently have.



*Side bar: If you're one of those people who thinks we should deny others the basic and fundamental civil right of marriage and family (and the thousands of legal benefits granted in this country that come with the status of marriage) simply because your interpretation of your religion forbids it, then might I remind you: (I) of the anti-establishment clause of the First Amendment and that we don't live on a theocracy [try Iran. I'm sure you'll love it there]; and (II) no one's forcing you to marry someone of the same sex.

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