I was fortunate because I knew that my dad was gay before I was aware of homophobia. Homophobia is taught, and at five, I had not learned it. What I knew was that my dad loved another human being who made him happy and who just happened to also be a man. My experience would have been very different if my dad had told me when I was 13 or so after I had joined with my peers in making fun of gay and lesbian people and telling anti-gay jokes.