‘I wouldn’t trust a gay man with my children.’

It’s the kind of comment you used to hear all the time when I worked as a nanny in the mid-1990s. But incredibly, it’s an attitude I’ve found still persists today.

At the age of 18 I didn’t have much experience of looking after children but, when it came to choosing something to do to improve my French before studying languages at university, working as an au pair seemed like the best option. So off I went to a small village in rural France, where very quickly I had to learn how to feed, dress and clean two boys aged five and seven.

There was the odd teething problem and a few cultural differences to negotiate but I soon bonded with the children and like to think I did a good job – although they’d probably argue I took them on far too many boring walks and was too strict when it came to making them eat vegetables. But however capable a nanny I was, one thing’s for sure: my sexuality had no bearing on it whatsoever.