15 Things I Learned From Having A Lesbian Mom

1. Tofu is more than just a pale square of questionable edibility & Birkenstocks are surprisingly comfortable.

2. Gay men are not the must have accessory to your straight girl antics, they’re people, not Michael Kors bags.

3. Men do not have a monopoly on appreciating attractive women. You can be as straight as they come, but seeing a beautiful woman is like seeing art come to life and therefore should be acknowledged.

4. Community is important. Sometimes those few like-minded individuals you bond with can grow to become your unexpected, extended family.

5. Safe sex is paramount. No one quite understands the importance and self empowering feeling that comes from protecting yourself quite like a member of the LGBT community.

6. Not needing a man isn’t the same as not understanding the value of a good one. Having a healthy relationship with a member of the opposite sex doesn’t make you less independent, you should be able to rely on the men in your life, and they should be supportive of whatever type of woman you want to be.

7 “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” Just because you’re not personally a homophobe/bigot doesn’t mean you should stay silent while someone else is.

8. Love is complicated, hard to keep and even harder to come by, and worth risking everything for, no matter what the anatomy of your sexual partner. These are undeniable truths for everyone.

9. Not every lesbian relationship is a “Portia and Ellen,” just like not every straight couple is Brad and Angelina. Same sex couples have unrealistic Hollywood images too.

10. Being different makes you special. While it may feel awkward being a stand out in a pond full of similar fish, you’ll be thanking you’re lucky stars for even the smallest thing that makes you stand out in a sea full of them.

11. Femininity is more than just a simple label of “Femme” or “Butch.” There are a million shades of gray (gay?) between Betty Draper and Ellen Page. How you decide to express your womanhood has nothing to do with your sexual preference and can change moment to moment and day to day.

12. You are more than just a statistic. My mom was an African-American, low socio-economic teen mom; so according to “statistics” I should have been a “crack baby.” Just because society tells you you’ll fail doesn’t mean you will.

13. There’s no free pass from the normal things in life. I may have had double the mother trouble at times, but I still had to finish my homework and get home by curfew just like every other teenager. I have a lesbian mom, I’m not an alien.

14. Same sex parents have no bearing on the sexuality of their offspring. I’ve only known my mother to date women but I’ve never once felt any pressure or desire to be gay or bisexual myself, so right wingers can shove the “it promotes more homosexual behavior,” up their ass.

15. Your mom is your mom no matter who she loves.