I've never been treated as a child.

I accredit this to the large age difference between my brothers and me. When I was six, my brothers were thirteen and fourteen.

Dinner had always, and continues to this day, to be a time for discussion. Sometimes politics, occasionally personal, but always adult. I'm not sure if they momentarily forgot I was only a kid, or if they merely didn't care, but either way, I was able to camouflage and hear every word said.

And so it happened, that when I was only a young child of four, a topic that would change my view of the world forever would come to the surface.

On May 17th of 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. My great uncle is gay so I never thought anything of sexual orientation. Homosexual or otherwise.

Emory, ever the politician, was the one to bring it up at dinner.

“As of today, same-sex marriage is legal.” He announced, sounding far older than eleven.

And that was the sentence that started it all.

The next morning, eager to share my newfound information, I walked up to a good friend of mine. Spencer.

“Spencer guess what.” I said smugly, I knew something he didn't.

“What?” He asked, looking up at me.

“Because you live in Massachusetts, you can marry a guy if you want.”

“Really? That's cool.”

And then we played blocks, because at the time it didn't matter. The topic flew over our heads as four year olds. But not for long.

Weeks later, my mother received an angry phone call.

“How dare you tell my son he can marry a guy if he wants to!”

There was no introduction.

“Excuse me?” My mother repeated into the phone, after all it was weeks after the original event.

“Your daughter, told my son, that he can marry a guy if he wants because he lives in Massachusetts!”

It turns out, that that night, when Spencer’s father was reading him a bedtime story, Spencer decided to tell his father what I had told him only weeks before.

Looking back, I don't think that Spencer’s dad was homophobic. I don't think it had anything to do with the topic, I think he just saw my parents and me as brainwashing his son.

I think that even had we told him he wasn't allowed to eat beans on Tuesdays, he would have had the same response.

And since then, I've been more careful in what I say, and to whom I say it to.