Gay ... Gaye ... Gay?

If Mariela Castro is successful, then it will be safer for a gay son or daughter in Cuba. She is the 45-year-old wild child of current Cuban President Raoul.

A mother of three with two different fathers she has dad behind her (albeit cautioning her to move slowly): "I've seen changes in my father since I was a child. I saw him as macho and homophobic. But as I have grown and changed as a person, so I have seen him change."

Not that legislation will change people's minds immediately. Either you accept your gay child, as British conservative MP Derek Conway does, or you work on it. Of course, even if you say you accept your child's sexuality there might be prejudices that sneak in. And Conway, who was suspended from the House of Commons for steering £50,000 of taxpayer's money to son Frederick, had sent the same sort of money to his older son Henry, as well. Henry, who is gay, only received £32,000 out of public coffers.

Nobody was punished for that, but the gossip sheets have now fixated on the elder son's sexuality. Not that it ruffles father Conway: "It is complete rubbish. These homophobic clowns think every gay wants to be a woman. ...Why should he be pilloried for being gay? He's my son."

And Gay Lindberg is his father's son. His father, who named him Darryl Gay (after Toronto Maple Leaf Great Gaye Stewart) echoes the steps of the father's above. There are sometimes mistakes, but checking with the children you love does cause things to eventually work out.

** Comic with the Gay/Gaye naming, there is always something of the father in the essence of the child. **