BrainVacation.com - Hypocrisy of the Family

I went out of town the other day to visit family. Of course my mom, dad and brother know that I'm gay. My brother told two of my older cousins, but I don't think the rest of my family knows. Anyways, one of the people I saw was my thirteen year old cousin Ryan. Earlier this year a gay joke was made while I was playing video games with Ryan and his friend Justin. I laughed it off with a snappy response and a flick of the wrist. Somehow (probably through my usual playful behavior) that flick of the wrist evolved into Ryan putting his arm around me. He stayed within what I call the "safety zone." If you ever notice, it is acceptable among straight guys to jokingly put one's arm around another as long as it is on the guys shoulder and no other body parts touch(i.e. hips, legs). My mom and aunt saw this and got upset. My mom told me it was inappropriate because he is thirteen and I am twenty-six.

The upsetting thing is that I have a ten year old cousin, Kelsey, who likes me. She calls me boyfriend, hangs all over me, sits in my lap and has even tried to kiss me before. While Ryan has got in trouble for putting his arm around me and once using my knee as a foot rest while we were riding in the back of my aunts car, nothing is said when Kelsey puts her arms and legs around me in the same way. Everyone gets upset when me and Ryan playfully flirted once, but I seem to be the only one who is bothered by Kelsey acting much less playful much more often. I'm not trying to justify flirting with my thirteen year old cousin, but all he did was put his arm around my shoulder. I could understand if they got upset about Kelsey too, but my mom said that her behavior was ok. So homosexual behavior around a teenager is wrong, but inbreeding with a preteen is ok? I just don't understand this.

BTW, anyone who knows me should know that my flirtatious behavior has no bounds. I'm playful with everybody(young or old, boy or girl) unless I don't like them. This is just how I act and I can't turn it off. That being said, I don't respond any different to Kelsi than I do with Ryan.