ABSTRACT
This mother, part of the "very conservative" group in the school system, reluctantly had agreed to attend one in a series of "Constructive Conversations" aimed at calming a major confrontation over a discussion in her son's elementary school about same-sex marriage. Her words, and the confusion and anxiety on her face, suddenly shifted the wary mood in the room. Several of the mothers "from the other side" nodded slowly, seeming to acknowledge painful familiarity with finding themselves in difficult conversations with their children. Contace1 had been made. A small window had opened.
