Christine says: 'Rachel had just come home after graduating from Leeds University in 2001, and we were enjoying a family Sunday lunch. We've always like eating and talking together. That day, we were discussing the subject of gay women having children, when Rachel suddenly turned to me and said "Actually, Mum, I'm gay"

It's the sort of scene you might see on TV but you never think it is going to happen to you. All I could say was "Don't be silly, of course you're not."

You don't know how you're going to react to something until it happens and I was far more shocked than I'd have expected - perhaps because Rachel sounded so matter of fact. I got up and rushed out of the house with my mobile and phoned two of my friends in tears. I simply needed their moral support.

It had never crossed my mind that my daughter might be gay. I knew she hadn't had a boyfriend but I though she was concentrating on her studies. She said that she knew she was gay when she was 13 and thought it might go away but it didn't. Some people say you choose to be gay, but it's not a choice, any more that you choose to be heterosexual. It's the way you're born.

I have never been homophobic, but I felt very isolated and needed to talk to someone in the same position, so I rang FFLAG (Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) a few weeks after Rachel broke the news. I soon realised there are loads of other parents out there with gay children and, 15 months later, I actually started running my own helpline.

Rachel being gay has now opened up a whole new world to me. I've met many of her gay friends, and she's brought two of her girlfriends home to stay and there was nothing abnormal about the situation. It was clear that they were happy with someone to love.

Her Dad, who's an aircraft engineer, was worried about the treatment she would get in the big, wide world, but she's had no bad experiences. He also wondered whether she didn't like men because of something he'd done - but she's got friends of both sexes and she told him, "Daddy, I adore men!"

Her brother is fine about it too. He told his friends and they were relaxed about it. One said "That's a shame because I fancied her," and another said "Oh, my uncle's gay," The fact that she's gay simply isn't an issue any more.

Reproduced from Women's Weekly 22 March 2005.