Gays & Lesbians: What would be your reaction if your college age son or daughter came home

and told you that they were homosexual? In what way, if any, would this impact your
relationship with your child? What would be your reaction if your spouse came home and told
you that s/he was homosexual? In what way, if any, would this impact your relationship with
your spouse? Compare and contrast the reaction you would have to your child's announcement
with the reaction you would have to your spouse.

Parker Hitchcock
IRE Ch. 6 6B

If my child came home and told me that he/she was homosexual, I would be accepting. I feel that
sexuality is based on who we are scientifically, and not socially. If sexual orientation is
biologically based, discrimination against gay men, lesbians, or bisexual women and men is
especially unjustified. (Strong & Cohen, 2014, P. 197). It is hard in society to be accepted as a
homosexual, but if my child felt strongly about their decision to come out and share that, I would
be accepting. It would be hard to get used to having the dynamics of our family be different than
what I grew up expecting, but that is just something I would have to get used to. I feel that I
would have had an idea that he/she had sexuality differences from raising him/her, but I could be
wrong about that. I do not feel that my relationship with my child would be changed in a
negative way at all, and we could still have the same sort of relationship. If my spouse came
home to tell me that he was homosexual, it would completely devastate me. He was to be my
partner and lover, and that would be different if he was not interested in being with women. I
would not be able to continue being in an intimate relationship with him due to fear, lack of
desire, trust, etc. I would not be able to stay married to my husband, whether or not he had acted
upon or planned to act upon his desires. In no way do I feel that this is a judgement, I feel that it
is a way of life that I could not support for my partner. I would feel that the marriage had been a
scam due to the fact that I feel he must have known what his desires were prior to the marriage.
Comparing my reaction to my child as opposed to my spouse is completely different. The
relationship between a parent and child is completely different from that of a spouse. My child
would need and continue to get my support and this would not change the roles we played in
each others lives. My husband would no longer be the same person in regards to the roles he
would play as my lover and the man I felt he was. The sexual and intimate desires of your child
do not have anything to do with you, yet those of your spouse do. Strong, B, & Cohen, T.F.
(2014). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a changing society (12th
ed.). Belmont, CA. Wadsworth.