I still haven't sat down with my TiVo to watch Ayelet Waldman's Oprah appearance, but I enjoyed Waldman's March 28th Salon column. She talks about her 7-year-old son, Zeke, whose best friend is a 59-year-old lesbian named Laura, a friend of the family.
While Zeke supports same-sex marriage, absolutely adores Laura, and can scarcely comprehend the existence of anti-gay bigotry, Waldman worries that someday, Zeke's easygoing broad-mindedness will fall victim to the world. But, Waldman continues, perhaps I'm not giving him and his generation enough credit. Maybe none of them will use words like "gay" and "faggot" as schoolyard barbs, or maybe some of them will react with anger if others do. After all, Zeke says you're supposed to marry the person you love, whoever and whatever that person happens to be. He says it's no big deal.
Waldman also says she hopes Zeke turns out to be gay. Think about it, I say. How many straight men maintain inappropriately intimate relationships with their mothers? Ahh, isn't that the dream for all of us moms with little boys?
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3 comments:
Like the Ex always says, "Gay is fine. Just please God don't let him turn into a cowboy."
That is a good point. I constantly wonder at what point should I say enough is enough, then I quickly realize that enough never has to come; that I would be caving into societal pressures to raise a boy to be a boy. His relationship with me could be a good thing in his life when he hits all that puberty stuff and starts thinking he's "a man."
"Happy and healthy", yes, but "insanely devoted to me because I am fabulous" would also be nice.
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