What Do You Say To Your 7 Year Old?

As you may know, the chairman of House’s Armed Services Committee (Ike Skelton) said the other day we should keep Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because repealing it could mean that parents might have awkward moments with their kids when they ask what it means to be gay.

I’ll just ignore all the other issues (Rachel Maddow covers them beautifully in her segment below), and I’ll answer the question posed by Mr. Skelton…

7 years old is the perfect age to discuss what it means to be gay with your kids. Why? Because at that age it’s not about sex – it’s about the relationship. You don’t have to discuss what you might think of as “icky” sexual practices – you can talk about loving relationships which should never be seen as “icky”. If your 7 year old asks if gay couples have kids, explain adoption to them and say gay couples adopt kids that same-sex couples aren’t able to care for. There’s nothing icky in that either…

I can see where the question could be awkward if the kid is 12 or 13, but I don’t see anything awkward about answering the question when the kid is 7.

And now for Rachel Maddow’s take on the issue…

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