I was spending some time with Monkey 4 at preschool this morning, doing puzzles with her at drop off time as is mandated by the teachers. Nothing new there.

I was chatting with the other kids.  Nothing new there. 

One of the children told me "My mum said that boyfriends can't go with boyfriends, they can only go with girlfriends".

Jaw, meet floor.

I suggested that there are lots of boyfriends who have boyfriends and lots of girlfriends who have girlfriends, and lots of boyfriends who have girlfriends and lots of girlfriends who have boyfriends, and that it was all fine.
He insisted that his mum told him that boyfriends cannot go with boyfriends, they can only go with girlfriends. "my mum said so".
Monkey 4 told him that she has a friend who has two mums and they love each other and that they can do that.
My flabber, it was still gasted.

I get that it is hard enough to ask questions about easily explained things to children and that the mum might not have wanted to explain tricky things on a given day.  I get that the mum might have been uncomfortable with the idea of her son talking about a boyfriend.  I get that she might be trying to protect him from unkind words from judgemental people if he had talked about having a boyfriend.

I do not understand how that mum can deny fact. Whether she wants it to happen or not, some boys have boyfriends and some girls have girlfriends. That would be like me saying that all people should be left wing, supportive of the current government and that everyone thinks that more money should be given to education and social services.  I WISH these things were true, but I know that they are not.  My kids know that they are not.

This is a wake up call for me.  Comfortable in my snug little left wing hippy socialist bubble, I forgot that not everyone in my world, city, suburb or school thinks that it is ok for boyfriends to have boyfriends. I forgot that not everyone thinks that all people should be able to get on and love the person they love without impediments put in their way, or that people loving people should be a matter for debate or politics. I forgot that to lots of people marriage equality isn't, as it is for me, a logical progression of equalities and human rights and overdue.

Instead of assuming that everyone thinks that adults are allowed to love other adults and not giving it much thought apart from sharing marriage equality stories on Facebook, this morning's preschool interaction shows me that I need to make more noise.

I don't have to live with discrimination every day just because of who I fell in love with. I have the freedom to get married (and divorced and remarried as many times as I like) in a civil ceremony. I have legal and social acceptance given to me, and these are so invisible that I take them for granted. 

Boyfriends can go with boyfriends. Girlfriends can go with girlfriends. It would be great if all little kids knew this like they knew that the sun is in the sky and worms wriggle. It isn't a judgement call, it's a statement of fact.

I'm going to track down some coloured chalk today.  It won't change everything, but I have to start with something to change my own little corner of this world.

This rainbow was on a street in Western Australia in April 2013.