Parents with more than one story

Claire says: ‘I have no straight children. Finding out one child was gay was bearable. Finding out both were was very, very hard. My daughters refer to it as: ‘The second daughter thing’...The house is always full of lesbians! However, they both have straight friends so it’s full of them too… The fact that they are both gay means they are good supportive friends to each other. Without it they might not have been so close as they are very different.’

Rosie says: ‘When I was pregnant with my second child and found out that he would be a boy, I remember wondering how the older one would cope with a football-playing brother. Well, I needn’t have worried! They don’t talk about it, but perhaps they will be able to support one another later in life. There is sometimes conflict between straight and gay children and, of course, I have never experienced that. One very good thing is that I can devote myself to gay activism, knowing that I am helping both my children.’