A few days ago, I was sitting around at a work function with a group of coworkers discussing the trials and tribulations of raising teenagers. I have 3 teenagers and one soon to be teenager; this condition frequently makes me consider heading out to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes and taking the long route home. And by the way, I quit smoking when I left the army life behind. One of my coworkers is in an even worse situation: 5 teenagers, 4 boys and a girl. Another of the coworkers sitting with us is openly gay and living with her partner. She’s a few years older than me, but from my generation.
While we continued having this conversation, I started thinking about how this conversation sounded from her viewpoint. We were discussing the issues involved with parenting teenage girls who are awakening to the sexual side of their nature. All of our kids are straight, so there was no discussion from a gay view. But having my gay coworker involved in this conversation made me think about how much different it would be to raise a gay teenager. Later, though, I considered how different things are from when I grew up.