Now, before anyone gets angry about that title, of course it’s a big deal whenever progress is made towards any kind of equality or understanding, or when events like the Orlando shootings occur. But, in this household, right now, it’s all just no big deal.
As a family, we know same sex couples, inter-racial couples, couples with age differences, disabled people, young couples with kids, old couples, adopted children, families from different religions and races, and transgender people.
Love is Love.
We’ve had a few questions from our two girls about same sex couples, skin colour, and so on, and our answer is always the same. The words change but the message is there. It’s No Big Deal.
The LGBT community is being represented more & more fairly in mainstream media – Disney has even got their first same sex couple cropping up in Finding Dory. Georgie and Lydia see that and think it’s normal – because it is.
They instinctively understood that Love is Love. That a man loving a man, or a woman loving a woman, or a man with white skin loving a woman with dark skin (and so on) is No Big Deal. Simple conversations from us confirmed it. The concept is so easy to understand – after all in my mind, and theirs, saying some love is good and some love is bad seems more complex, totally unfair, and inherently wrong.
Some people are different to you. It’s not something to ignore, shy away from, or to pretend doesn’t exist, but to acknowledge calmly, discuss without a fuss, and confirm that it’s No Big Deal.
Love is Love.
As they get older, conversations will become more complex. We will talk about respect, feminism, abuse, equality, the fight for more equality, disability rights, and how to cope with people who are closed minded. The terrible things that happen in our world because of conflict, twisted religion, radicalism, homophobia, racism, and so on.
But right now, at this young age, the message we give our children is just this: that different is normal, Love is Love, and that is how it is – No Big Deal.
same in our house. No one is born prejudiced – they learn it from the adults around them.
“Love it love” …. I love this phrase and am going to put it to good use.