On Tuesday, I wrote of talking with my son and other children about the Orlando massacre. Here are a few similar pieces by others. Would that we never had to write them.
- John Culhane, the H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law at Delaware Law School and Co-Director of the Family Health Law and Policy Institute, tries at Slate to answer the question, “How Can Gay Parents Explain Orlando to Their Kids?” His experience is somewhat similar to mine, although he has 11-year-old twin daughters and I have a 13-year-old son: both of us have been privileged enough to live in areas and have a skin color that means the threat of violence doesn’t hang over us daily. He asks how he can explain to his daughters violence against LGBTQ people, what he can do to keep them safe, and—a question that weighs on my mind, too: “How do I balance talking about uncertainty with the need to reassure them?”
- Amelia, a mom with an 11-year-old son who is gay, writes heartbreakingly about “When I Told My Gay Son 49 People Died For Being Just Like Him.“
- Lyz Lenz at The Daily Dot explores “Why you need to talk to your kids about the Orlando shooting,” with input from long-time lesbian mom blogger Vikki Reich and pediatrician Dr. Deborah Gilboa, a parenting and youth development expert.
- At Romper, Lacey Vorrasi-Banis tells us, “After The Orlando Terror Attack, This Is What I Want My Daughter To Know.” Her daughter is only nine months old, so this is a missive for when she is older—about coming out, falling in love, and fighting for the right to have that love be accepted and recognized.
The first three pieces share my own perspective, that it is better to be proactive in talking about such tragedies with our children, because they will likely hear about them from friends or the Internet regardless. We may not be able to protect them from all fears or all harms, but we can at least reassure them that we will be there with love and support no matter what.
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