Difficult Situation....

I think, by nature, I am a protector. I am a loyal friend, and when it comes to defending a friend's honor, I am down for whatever...but life has tossed a wrench in my direction...

In my previous post titled Friendship, I introduced the world to my 'circle' of friends. My friend, that I call Softspoken is highly intellegent and scientifically inclined. He also has a wonderful eye for decorating. He hooked my place up!
Anyway, he was helping me and my daughter find things for a science project she has to do for school. She wants to create a working cell. I can only go so far with the creativity...I mean how in the heck do you create endoplasmic reticulum...I say use pipe cleaners and call it a day, but they both think that my ideas are asinine at this point, so I just let them have it!

We are in this store, and this chic that works there says to us, "your daughter looks like both of you". We smile, say nothing, and keep shopping. But this chic won't let up. She comes to us and starts to point out features that she 'thinks' my daughter has from both of us. Mind you...this IS NOT her father! She says to my friend, I see you're not wearing a ring, so I guess that means you are available. She then gives me this sly smile. I think I'm supposed to be jealous at this point, but little does she know, she's in route for some major upset in a few moments. I smile back, politely and continue to shop. He says to her, if you asking me if we are together, the answer is no. She looks at us both and walks off. Boy she is bold! What if we were together?

But she is still not done yet! In her plot to tempt my friend, she comes back with a folded piece of paper with her number on it, and slips it in his hand. He, being the type of person that he is, gently takes her hand the gives it back to her. She then makes a fool of herself and says ..."you don't know what your missing.".And he says to her, "quite frankly, I don't care to know!" If I liked did like women, you wouldn't even be in on my level... Now she is pissed! She looks at him with the most hateful look and starts to call him all kinds of names....and MY KID IS STANDING RIGHt THERE! Not to mention, a store full of people. Now I am upset, and I try to get my daughter and friend out of this store as soon as possible. The manager comes over and my friend explained the situation to him. She was fired on the spot. She turns to the manager and says, you only did that because you want him for yourself. Is this b&*@#$ crazy or what!

Now that we are out of the store, we ride to my house in silence. We decide that we will work on the project this weekend, since she has a few weeks before it is due. My daughter seems okay at this point. My brother comes by to take my daughter to the movies. He is single with no kids and I think he just takes my daughter so that he can satify his inner child and do all the things that he likes(seeing kid's movies, going to carnivals, playing games at the arcade, etc...). This gave my friend and I time to talk. I could tell he was very hurt by what had happened. We talked for a while. Grabbed a bite to eat, and he was happy. We know that everyone has their opinion, but we can't let it affect us.

This is where my delimma came. This morning, while getting my daughter dressed for school, my she asks, "Mom, what is a fag and a sissy?" I am like, whoa! Where did you get that from? She says, "Yesterday, in the store, the girl said it. What does it mean?" I sat for a moment, then I responded, "Those are ugly wrods that you should never say to people, and we will talk about this more later." She was satisfied with the answer, but for how long? I want to be the one to explain it to her, so I have to talk to her before she starts to ask other people. Now how do I, as a mother, explain to my child about what it means to be gay. I have seen my friends go through so much. How do I explain it to her without distorting her image of ALL people? Being straight, I can't honestly say I know exactly what it means, I have just gained an understanding through my friends.

I talked with Softspoken about it, and he suggested that I invite my "Circle" of friends over to have a talk with my daughter. They have all known her all of her life, some where there when she was born, and love her like she is their own. I am at a standstill and I have no idea of what to do!

Is this something that I should do on my own? Or should I let my friends help me with this one? What are your thoughts?