How will you explain homosexuality to your children?

i never really felt it needed "explanation" anymore than heterosexuality needed one. my children are raised with the knowledge and comprehension of love, in all its forms.. period. i dont want their psyche to be tainted by societal veiws on the subject in any way.. if they arent taught at home its "wrong" before they are capable of coherant independant thought, they wont need to be untaught later on with such classes as this tolerance one youve described. race creed religion orientation.. ive done my very best to make them deaf & blind to the differences and simply see people as individuals.. judged only on the merits and actions of said individual.. not by the color of their skin, how they worship, or who they love in their lives.

I think that it would be a great idea. But perhaps Im biased because I am myself gay LOL. I believe that by the time that children are in school that would have already seen gay people and families. Schools teach diversity, and I think that sexuality is a big part of the diversity that we have in the world.

You know, it's funny, but I've never had to explain to any of my kids about homosexuality. I have gay family members and gay friends. My youngest girls have grown up with my brother's daughters. They all see it the way it is. It just is, you know. The only one the ever questioned was my second son and that was after he told me that he was gay. And the question was, "why?" The only answer that I had was genetics. Then I had to let him know that his dad was gay which opened a whole new can of worms.

Now let me tell you that I could not tell by reading your post if you are pro homosexuality, con, or neutral! Until I read a fewq of your answers, then I knew! I was taught to respect all people, differences aside, at the catholic school I attended for twelve years! We had discussions and all that! It really opened our minds to accept others without judging or ostracizing people! My children, four of whom have already graduated from high school, do understand differences and have been taught tolerance at the public school!

Well, although she's met some homeosexuals before my daughter hasn't asked that question yet, but I'm sure it will come up sooner or later. I don't honestly think it'll be that hard to explain. I think we'll just tell her that some men love women and some men love other men, and some women love men and some love other women. I think she'll accept this pretty easily as she hasn't got a relationship 'norm' established in her head, like so many older people who are against or mistrustful of homosexuality. I would hope that when she goes to school it will be liberal enough to teach courses like this, and reduce future prejudices. I think it sounds great :0)

Well, I would have to say that my son probably wouldn't have to wait around to hear about homosexuality from a course at school because I would have already talked to him about it. I do plan on talking to him about it (he's only 4 now) and I have considered since I was pregnant with him that he might one day turn out to be a homosexual.

well i guess i will be thankful that homosexuality now are being part of the curriculum in schools for their guidance and information..in this i will not have the difficulty in explaining to them more about it..i have no against to these people we must co exist with them i guess for peace and harmonious state of living ..

I wish they had those kinds of courses in our local high schools! Kid aren't born with hate and intolerance in their hearts, it's taught to them; some pick it up from their parents, some from their friends but they pick it up somewhere and I feel if they're not being taught to accept and tolerate others who are different from them at home there's no better place to learn it than at school with others of their own age. Two gay women live near my daughter and her family and they're all good friends. My grandkids have known since they were very young that these two women were a "couple" without ever going into detail. They don't go around having open displays of affection in front of people so it's not like the kids, now 11 and 13, have been exposed to anything "indecent", but they just know some people are gay and that they're just like us in other ways and there's not reason to dislike them or treat them badly. This couple would do anything for anyone, they're always taking food for my daughter and the kids and inviting them over for cookouts and they always give them all gifts at Christmas. I'm glad the kids got to know someone like them before being corrupted by others who would make them think they should be shunned or treated unkindly. Annie

My 4 boys grew up, married, and moved away with never a Question, or word about homosexuality. They just accepted it as an alternative way of life and moved on. No One in our home has ever had any problems with Homosexuality. Homosexuality is perfectly natural, and unless the children have a question, whats to say about it? If they do Question, answer to the best of your Knowledge.

I don't remember actually having a specific talk about homosexuality with my children. We have always been very open to discussions of all kinds. Three of my children are grown, and I have a thirteen year old daughter. I am so proud of them for embracing all types of diversity. They are very loving, compassionate people, and I think it is, in part, due to way we have always talked about homosexuality, and other topics in such an open manner. Since many children are brought up in houses where bigotry reigns, I think tolerance courses in high schools are a fabulous idea. Not just tolerance of homosexuality, but tolerance of diversity. I wonder if high school is too late, in some cases, for teaching tolerance. Working in an elementary school, I have heard some frightening bigoted statements from kids as young a eight. Bigotry is an ugly monster, and is going to be difficult to kill.

Our kids were taught tolerance practically from infancy. We just talked about different kinds of families--some with a man and a woman, some with two men, and some with two women. It was no big deal in our family. It helped that our kids' role models included gay and lesbian family members. Indeed, we had what I call a "real" family--one where people didn't have to hide their so-called "differences" from us or our children. The real challenge came when we had to let the kids know that there were other family members who didn't accept these lifestyle differences. So while Auntie Sue and Auntie Sally were a couple in our home, they were just "roommates" eleswhere. Explaining that was far harder than explaining homosexuality.

I will tell my children about homosexuality .it is important to tell him about homosexuality .when they grow up they may come across somebody who are homesexuality.if we can tell him about that when they are children .they will face the that kind of people in a right manner

This is a really hard thing for me to explain this for children. We have to start with the sexuality thing and explain about it some time in brief. Later we can start with the reason of having this thing between two persons. We can say them about the different thinking of different people and their different intentions. Slowly we can start talking about the homosexuality and explain about it in brief to the children. If they can understand it then its fine, otherwise we just have to say Nevermind. Eventually children will understand all these things in today's culture and generation.

I think that i would b fine with my child taking the course but at the same time i would explain to him that with our religious beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and that i do not beleive in it or approve of it but that we do not judge others either and that he accepts ppl for who they are not what they chose to do.

My son is 6. We've already had this discussion. He had seen two men embracing and had questions. He was like "a mans and a mans can get married?" And I told him yes, if they love each other they can get married. And girls can marry girls if they want to. And he said "and mans and girls can get married too?" I said yes. And he said "okay" and resumed playing. He hasn't brought it up since. He just accepted that it was so, and that was that. I imagine we'll discuss it more as he gets older and he becomes more aware of the world around him.

In my eyes homosexuality is natural for the most part, i will say there are confused people out there that think they are gay but really arnt, but there are the ones that were born to be gay. To my step kid we live in a home where natural stuff that usually is looked bad upon is tried to be shown as natural. Now he hasnt come out and asked about homosexuality yet, his Nani is with another woman, but i dont know if he realizes that yet. If he came and asked about it I would tell him that some people are just born that way, while others become that way and then more that just think there that way, but its the natural order of life, and that in life you need to keep an open mind and think for yourself to not follow the way things are SUPPOSED to be.

Personally a class about it in high school seems a little too late...that is something that needs to be taught in middle school. I had a good friend of mine who was openly gay in high school. I think sometimes he made it harder for himself because he was CONSTANTLY talking about being gay. I said to him one day "Hey! Do I wear a shirt that says "I'm straight" or "I like boys"? He got pretty mad at me about that, but after i explained it to him, he cooled down a lot. I told him it shouldn't matter if you're gay. It doesn't make you any different. (He argued with me on this for awhile, but eventually saw my pov) - to me being gay is no different than having brown hair instead of blonde (I know it's very different from that, but the way I see it, it shouldn't be treated as a means of classifying people)... Anyways, I'll explain it to my kids that everybody is different, but that doesn't matter and you should never try to classify or stereotype people and get to know them for anything else. I also used to wear a shirt that said "labels are for jars and you are not a jar"...so that is one thing about me that I still believe in after all these years since high school!

I think every school should have this class. There are so many people that need it! LOL It should be required to take before you graduate.

Well, because I would imagine they are still very young, I would explain it in terms they would understand, which means they might not get the full explanation but as close to it and if they asked more questions I would elaborate. I would simply explain that most boys like girls and most girls like boys, but sometimes boys like boys and girls like girls and that is okay. I would explain that they are just different and when they get old enough to date and explore that part of themselves, they will figure out which it is. I would tell them when they started dating they will date people from the opposite gender, but they might find they are attracted to the same. Now of course all this depends on their age and I wouldn't tell them all that at once if they are very young but it really depends on the age. In all honesty though, I don't think I would let it get to that point. I think I would begin trying to explain it when they are younger and elaborate on the subject as they got older and more able to understand. Then if they go to school with homosexuals or whatever, they will be more tolerant, if they don't end up being so themselves, and if they do, hopefully more children will be tolerant of them.

I want to finish this topic.I would rather like to say that no homosexual exist.I my childrens ask me a about that i say the same to everyone.