GLBTQ&A Rules Filed by: Eric Marcus November 23, 2008 10:00 AM


   This past week I did a presentation at the annual GLSEN Hudson Valley PrideWorks conference on how to answer the questions we all wind up getting asked by parents, friends, strangers, and colleagues (and often get asked over and over again until we want to scream!). For example:
• How did you know you were gay?
• Who plays the husband, who plays the wife?
• Why do gay people want to get married?
• How did your parents react?
• Don't gay people already have rights? 
In preparing for the workshop (which was attended by about 50 people--mostly middle- and high-school students and a handful of educators and parents) I came up with a set of rules about how to most effectively answer the questions GLBT people are likely to be asked (like the ones I've been asked and answered over the past thirty years both personally and as an author).