Kids tend to say the darndest things: mostly funny, silly stuff, but now and then they also drop some wisdom that restores your faith in humanity.

Take, for instance, the story of a dad in Bath, England, whose 7 year old didn’t even bat an eye when standing up to a homophobic bigot at the supermarket.

As the father explained, he and his son went shopping for a birthday present for a girl in the son’s class. They settled on a tiara, a fairy wand, and some pretty jewelry. As they waited in line, the son put a few of the items on and pretended to be the Queen, ordering the line to move faster.

That, apparently, was just too much to take for the j^rkin the next line. Here’s how it all went down:

Son: (In a posh voice) I’m the Queen and I say this line should move faster! (I and a few others smile at his playfulness when a man in line at the next till yells at me.) Man: You can’t let your son do that. If he turns into a f****t it’ll be your fault. (Everyone stops and stares at him in horror whilst the cashiers call for a manager.) Son: What’s a f****t? Me: It’s a nasty word that only nasty people use so you mustn’t say it. Man: It means gay, kid. Son: What’s gay? Man: It means you’re bad and going to Hell for being evil. Me: It’s when a man loves a man and a lady loves a lady. Son: Oh, like Uncle James and Uncle Ian? Me: Yep, just like Uncle James and Uncle Ian. They’re not bad, are they? (My brother is a paediatric oncologist and his partner is a paediatric nurse. We’ve tried to explain what cancer is and how my brother and his partner make children feel better when they’re poorly.) Son: My uncles make children better when they have poorly blood and poorly bones. If you make them go to Hell that means you want the children to be poorly. (The manager and a security guard turn up but my son looks this man in the eye and holds his stare.) Son: Do you want the children to be poorly? Do you want them to be sick and have to go to Heaven? (Everyone is now staring at my son. The man has gone red and is looking around.) Manager: Sir, I believe you’ve just been outwitted by a child. You should leave now and keep your disgusting views to yourself and out of my shop.

Kids like this give me hope for the future.