Explaining Gay Pride

My mind is still spinning from the provocative article, See Baby Discriminate, featured in Newsweek a few weeks ago. The authors challenged my intuition in regards to racial attitudes .

Basically, they suggest that it is critical to speak with children about racial differences in order to ensure a less divisive attitude. Simply exposing your children in meaningful and tangible ways to multi-racial people is not enough. There needs to be conversation!

I recommend you read the article in its entirety.  I am  mentioning it to you, because I think it is a paramount study.  And, it is also consuming a lot of my attention.

So, in the spirit of talking to my children about all of the unique and diverse ways that people are born and choose to express themselves, I approached the annual gay pride parade with a different agenda.

I explained to my oldest daughter (5 years old) what it means to be gay in the simplest terms:

Some times men and women love each other and might choose to live together and have a family. Sometimes two men will love each other and might choose to live together and have a family. Sometimes two women will love each other and might choose to live together and have a family.

My daughter is always eager to learn new ideas and facts about the world – “grown-up stuff”.  So, she participated in the conversation, but was rather unconcerned by the subject. This made me wonder if exposure to our numerous gay friends has been enough for her to consider this difference acceptable and familiar? Or, since all children are naturally prone to categorizing and in-group favoritism, do kids need more than exposure?

We all want our children to feel comfortable and connected in this diverse world. We are raising citizens of the world. The questions is, are we making it better or worse by calling attention to the differences?

I would love to  hear you thoughts on the article, my approach, or your own interpretation of how to prepare your children for our diverse world. Leave a comment below.