I'm really not sure what I would do if I had children and how I would tell them. That is a good question, and personally, for my political and especially religious/faith views, I hope I don't have to tell them. That would be a hard subject for myself to talk about or explain to a young child. Mistakes indeed are made.

Re: the question in your journal title, our children may have friends with two same-sex parents right now, regardless of the legality or illegality of same-sex marriage [and in our specific case, change that "may" to "does].  I am the child of two people whose marriage, just a few years before it occurred, would have been illegal in some states in this country, one of whom was born in a concentration camp in this country.  So yes, I too, will teach my daughter that, as great as this country is, mistakes are still made--and that sometimes, in our better hours, we strive to fix them, for all of our children and the adults they will become.

I will teach my children that love is love no matter who it is, and two mommies or two daddies can give just as much love to their children as a mom and a dad can.

That's a tough subject no matter who you are, your religious  beliefs or family orientation.  We teach our children what we belief to be the truth, to be honest and all the other goodness things in life.  But what if we teach our children that same-sex marriages aren't right and then our children reach that cross-road in life and decide that is what is right for them? Will we be hypocrites for accepting our children on their life style or shut them out of our life forever?  Okay, my train of thought has flown out the window with the kids playing.

We shouldn't shut anybody out of our life because of their choices.  If our children reach the fork in the road where they have to choose to use drugs or not, or to be promiscuous or not, or to break the law or not; all of which are lifestyle choices, we wouldn't shut them out if they made the decision we were dreading.  We would provide the road for them to come back and encourage them in any way we could to decide to come back.  I would say that Yes, if our children made a choice against our wishes and then we accepted it, we would be hypocrits.  But if we would even consider changing our stance because a loved one went another direction, then would we really have ever been against it in the first place?

And I'm just thinking out loud, Natalie.  I'm answering your question with my opinion and it should be taken as such.

Another thought I would add is that we take the words of God about not judging others to an extreme.  I won't judge anyone, but according to my beliefs, judgement is coming and it's a lot worse than anything that could come from me.  So while I continue to love someone who has made a decision like that, I would also share with them that belief. 

I did not indicate in my original post that I DO have good friends who are a same sex family, two women raising two young boys; and another, two women raising a precious girl.  Neither family is here locally and my children have not seen that lifestyle yet.  I guess my dilemma is how to translate an adult conversation like the one going on here to a child when they ask the question.

My main goal would be to display in my own tone and words, not a sentiment of discrimination or hate, but one of concern born of love.  I am in no way against my children having friends in families of different structures.  I have those friends myself.  But I can't let my children, based on my beliefs, grow up thinking that is an option to consider.

I think all thoughts on these journals are just thoughts spoken out loud, I don't see any of us bashing anyone else for a thought expressed on these pages.  Mine may be way out there sometimes b/c I'm trying to figure out the right and wrong of things as I'm teaching my children, or as my dear hubby says I'm just expressing words that float around my colorful little mind.  Dang, lost another thought, I had something else I was going to  say. OH well, guess I'll finish my ironing and think more.

Regarding how to translate to your children: I don't have any recommendations on books because I've never read them myself, but there are supposed to be some good ones out there. Might try to check them out. They have titles like:

Heather has two mommies
Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Story

Why a Little Boy Has Two Mommies
Daddy's Roommate
Who's in a Family?

I'm sure those are all well-written books, or else they wouldn't be on the market.  Well, that's not true, but that's a separate peeve of mine.  The Emma Book is, to its credit, not an agendized (if that's not a word, I claim coinage) book.  It's a story about a girl and her cat, and the girl's two moms.  It portrays the family as perfectly normal, in that it says nothing more about it, other than the fact that there are two moms.  I appreciate that, but at the same time, it is a portrayal acknowledging a two-mom family as a perfectly reasonable option.  Again, this is my personal belief's talking, but I can't read that to my kids as a teaching tool.  It's the same reasoning in my head as why my 5 year old can't watch PG or higher movies.  There are things presented as acceptable that are not acceptable to me and he has not been exposed to yet.  They just don't present a message that fits my parenting, and that is a judgement call we all have to make on everything, alternative lifestyle portrayals or anything else.

i'm open to discussing it with  my children.  they're going to figure it out anyway and i want to be the one who answers their questions. my husband says right now i'm too open to discussing things and that my older son is too young.  so, i think i'll save the discussions for later.  besides, one of the good things about all the BAD stuff on tv, is it provides an opportunity for the kids to see this while you're sitting right next to them and THEN gives an occasion to give them your opinion on it.  i would tell my children what their father and i believe, what our church believes, but most importanly, what the Bible says on it.  but above all, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.  after all, Jesus said it was the most important commandment.