Dan Savage is on a book tour for his new book American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics. Please enjoy this Savage Love letter from the archives. This letter was originally published November 29, 2007:

I am a young female currently in a relationship and I want to be honest with my boyfriend. A few years before I met my boyfriend, I met someone in my family. I guess he would be my second cousin. His mother is my father's first cousin. Anyway, we met one Christmas at a family get-together and ended up having sex. Would it be dishonest not to tell my current or any future lovers this detail about my sex life?

One Shameful Secret

My response after the jump...

You're not going to make the cut for the U.S. Incest Olympic Team doing your father's cousin's son, OSS. But don't take my word for it.

"They are second cousins," says K. C. "And second cousins can marry in every state of the U.S." K. C. is one of the editors of CousinCouples.com, a website that aims to destigmatize cousin couples whenever and wherever they're getting their three-headed-baby freak on. At CousinCouples.com you'll learn that your kind can have single-headed babies like everyone else—and that first cousins can marry in 26 states, Mexico, Canada, and all of Europe. Seeing as first-cousin marriage is largely legal and second-cousin marriage is barely taboo, OSS, having a one-night stand with a second cousin isn't anything to be ashamed of.