So I'm going to tell a story because every time I tell it people love it. Some background: I'm a 45 year old woman, married to a 45 year old man for 21 years, and we have two sons who are 11 and 15.
In 2008 we were in WDW during Gay Days. We didn't know anything about it, but we overheard someone on the monorail say something about how we should avoid all the red shirts with our small children (our boys were 4 and 8 at the time). Once we figured it out my husband and I were ticked off (to say the least) that someone would be so rude. Unfortunately, I couldn't even reply to the man because in that moment I had no idea what he was talking about.
My husband and I decided we should discuss it with our boys because we had no plans to "avoid all the red shirts" and even though we have several LGBT friends, our children (to our knowledge) had not seen any public displays of affection between same *** couples. We didn't want our kids to ask us loudly (as kids will sometimes do) in the event they saw same *** couples kissing because we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or appear offended in any way. Yet, we didn't want to make a big deal out of it because (newsflash) it's not a big deal.
So, we sat down with them and I asked if they knew what the word gay means. Of course, they said it means happy. (we smiled) I said, "It can also mean you love someone who is the same gender as you, but not only do you love them as a friend, you also love them the way mommy and daddy love each other...as a couple who wants to be together and be affectionate with one another." Older son said, "that's cool" and younger son said, "well, if you really love someone I think that's nice." (Seriously, kids are so unfazed by things. They both were just like "okay can we go to Magic Kingdom now? People love people. Isn't this how it's supposed to be?") I told them a celebration called Gay Days was going on and many of those celebrating would be wearing red shirts.
Then I told them some people think it is wrong for two people of the same gender to love each other in this way, and I wanted them to be prepared in case something ugly was said. I also told them their mommy and daddy don't believe it is wrong. We believe it is only important that we all love and respect each other, and it doesn't matter what your gender is, you should love whomever you choose.
As we were walking through the entrance to MK later that day, two men walked past us holding hands. My younger son (remember, he was 4 at the time) turned to me and said, "Oh look, Mommy. They're so in love. Isn't that nice? And they remembered their red shirts too!"
That's one of my proudest moments.
I hope someday VERY soon we can all hold hands and give a kiss to those we love in public without having to wonder what others might think. Love is love.
