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heart of peace

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So, I met a woman with her daughter at a local group in my area and we got to talking about various things including the school districts in our area. Anyway, I wasn't sure if she had other children, so I casually asked if it was just the 3 of them, "you, your daughter and your husband?" And she responded, "just me, my daughter and my partner, Jessica." I was concerned that I may have offended her for assuming that she was heterosexual and married to a male, but then I thought if I apologized to her for my assumption, that might make her feel even more awkward. So, I opted to just continue on with the conversation as normal, like as if a model tripped on the catwalk and just continued with her walk as if she never tripped. How would you have handled it? Do you think that was a good course of action? She was really nice and I enjoyed our conversation and we'll be seeing each other at the next class but I don't want her to feel alienated by me at all.
 

tiredwalker

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All people are different. She may or may not have been offended. However, I do think that you handled it well. I'm quite sure that she would have been offended if you had made a huge deal out of it or started tripping all over yourself. But since you kept right going, I'm sure it was fine.
 
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SmileAndAHandshake

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You did the right thing in just continuing on as normal IMO. I have a lot of gay friends and they don't want to be treated any differently or with any special consideration. They are really really used to correcting people about marital partners and what not, so don't worry too much about that And most of them are even fine if you wanna ask respectful questions, so don't really worry about that either if you take that route, and also they hear a lot of apologies; "Oops sorry" that kinda thing, that's not necessarily horrible either

Now and again of course you do run into people on the defensive about it, but over all most people are gonna be really good about it. They are used to the world being hetero-centered and are usually more than willing to kinda jump through the hoops to make sure people are well informed and what not. They don't want you to be uncomfortable as much as they don't wanna be uncomfortable So it's hard for both sides when these kinds of things come up randomly.

You did fine
 
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heart of peace

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Thanks tiredwalker and Morning~Glory for your thoughts. It helps confirm for me that I did good by following my gut. MG, I am very comfortable with gay lifestyles as I was born and raised in the NYC area and socialized quite a bit with all kinds of people from all different backgrounds. You hit the nail on the head with your comment "hetero-centered" perspective, I hadn't realized that I even held that perspective until this! That's what made me feel badly and a bit concerned that I may have alienated her. Talk about a reflective moment for me!

I'm glad to know that I followed the best course of action. Thanks again for your feedback!
 
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ido

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As Christians, I don't think we should feel badly for being hetero-centered in our thinking. We can and should embrace the "love the sinner, not the sin" mentality, though. I think the whole situation - including your assumption - was just fine. I would have probably done/said the same things you did.
 
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