What's to Explain?
Kim Kendrick, a staff writer at The South End (the student newspaper of Wayne State University, in Detroit, MI), in yesterday's supportive piece Gay, straight: Who cares?, said this:
And in all honesty, no, I don’t look forward to explaining to my 9-year-old daughter why those two men are holding hands, or why Aunt Rose is always with Linda … I’m just not ready for that.
Kim, I'm not being flippant when I suggest you answer simply: "Because they love each other." Children understand this idea quite readily, and are only disturbed by your discomfort at the fact that it's two men or two women. Homosexuality we're born with; homophobia we're taught.
It's likely you've already heard your daughter say about her best friend–another girl–that she wants to marry her. That used to be a hard one for parents to try to explain away, but now, thanks to recent election results, it's much easier. All you have to say is: "Oh, honey, I'm sorry but it's unconstitutional in our state."
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To thwart spam, comments by new people are held for moderation; give me a bit of time and your comment will show up.
I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Sunday, 7 November 2004 at 09.13
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I remember the South End from when my dad took classes there
…in the '60s. There used to be another radicalist rag called Fifth Estate too, published by SDS, I think. How did you come across this?
Brilliant comeback at the end. Good thinking!!