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![gaymarriage Kid Meets His First Gay Married Couple [VIDEO]](http://cdn.babble.com/strollerderby/files/2011/07/gaymarriage.jpg "gay marriage")
Living in downtown Manhattan means my kids have known same sex partners for as long as they can remember. But recent events have definitely bumped up this idea in their awareness. Ever since the Marriage Equality Act was passed in New York, my daughter has been proudly proclaiming that two women can marry each other to whoever will listen.
But I realize that my kid’s exposure to gay couples (and our family’s attitude) isn’t necessarily typical. As gay marriage gets more normalized, more children will begin to grasp the idea that love exists beyond the boundaries of the man-woman relationship. Though this warms my open-minded heart, I’m guessing this isn’t everyone’s idea of positive progress. But it’s happening; and it’s probably going to be a lot less weird for the kids who grow up with this concept than some of their parents, who have to unlearn the stigmas they grew up with.
Watch, for example, as this little boy meets his very first gay couple and puts two and two together.
The Empire State Building celebrates the passage of the Marriage Equality Act.
“I’m calling to register my support for the Marriage Equality bill,” I told the harried woman on the phone yesterday. I got the number for Dean G. Skelos’ office from a friend who posted it on Facebook, then I called and reposted. And my friends called and reposted. And I left for a show and wasn’t sure what would happen, but I got home just in time last night to catch the final yay vote as it was cast. I couldn’t believe it. The Republican-led New York State Senate passed the Marriage Equality bill, 33-29. And lawmakers said it was all of the phone calls and emails they received from constituents that made the difference. We were all a part of history.
“Oh my God, this is amazing!” I said to my daughter. “They just passed gay marriage!” Just then, the TV footage switched to the crowds at Stonewall and my daughter asked what was happening. “Now girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys,” I told her. “Sometimes girls love girls and boys love boys and now they can get married.”
“Girls can marry girls?,” my 5-year-old retorted incredulously. And then she announced that she wanted to marry her best girlfriend. Continue reading »
Adoptions among gay couples spike, but not because laws have made it easier.
Despite barriers that hetero-sexual couples don’t face, adoptions by same-sex couples are really on the rise. New census data shows that in 2009, 19 percent of gay couples had an adopted child in the house. That’s more than double the number that it was in 2000 — only 8 percent.
Gay couples still have to negotiate confusing and inconsistent laws throughout the country. They face a legal patchwork, outright discrimination and, in two states — Utah and Mississippi — laws forbidding them from forming a family through adoption.
So what this sudden and striking rise? Continue reading »
Owner Karen Paperno says yes.
In one small Brooklyn neighborhood, a quaint baby shop caters to the various growing families that inhabit the progressive Park Slope neighborhood. Boing Boing, a store that sells assorted nursing and baby gadgets is also is offering a 10 percent discount to lesbian moms, and some say it’s unfair.
Owner Karen Paperno who opened the store fifteen years ago, says she has every right to offer this discount since it is her store and she also has a good reason behind it.
She says it her way of honoring her neighborhood which has a large proportion of gay and lesbian parents and she also cites that women get paid incredibly less than men.
Penny Lawrence and her Daddy Baby Daddy.
Julie Ryan Evans of The Stir sent me a previously uncited link last night to a blog post on The Guardian‘s website featuring a photo (left) of the print-only Irish version of The Sun confirming the veracity of 28-year-old Penny Lawrence’s romantic relationship with her biological father, Garry Ryan. (Thank you, Julie.) The couple suffer from Genetic Sexual Attraction, a psychological condition that causes adults who are genetically related but who were not exposed to each other during childhood to feel romantic love for one another. Theirs is not the first instance of GSA nor will it likely be that last; GSA seems to be a fairly common side-effect felt by individuals who meet their blood relatives for the first time as adults.
Many people, including Evans, have no sympathy for the couple, despite their claim of GSA. In her blog post on the topic, Evans writes, “it’s illegal … and disgusting,” adding, “I’m sure it’s tough to grow up without a father, but it still doesn’t excuse or explain such a relationship.” I agree that GSA might not excuse such a relationship, but I do think it explains it, and the presence of so many biologically related couples suffering from GSA should encourage society at large to treat it as a real psychological issue, not a sexual taboo. The Guardian‘s 2003 expose on the subject says, “The emergence of GSA both in the US and the UK coincided with the relaxation of adoption laws in the mid-1970s, which gave adopted children easier access to their records and led to an increase in the number of reunions between adoptees and their blood relatives.” Experts believe “the frequency of these cases is almost impossible to quantify, although some agencies estimate that elements of GSA occur in 50% of reunions.” Continue reading »
Over half of Americans now support gay marriage
A few days ago, I wrote about how gay parents have become more socially accepted than single moms. That article said that 50 % of Americans support gay marriage.
The truth is even better: a new study released today shows that for the first time, a majority of Americans support marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. The study, conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, found that 53% of Americans say same-sex marriage should be legal. Just a year ago, that number was only 47%.
The improved support for same-sex marriage follows a long trend. Americans have been coming out in greater numbers to support same-sex marriage since 2004, when only a third supported it.
Single mamas are still seen as "bad for society"
It’s a week of good news for gay teens. First, there’s Kurt and Blaine’s kiss. Now we have news that gay families are becoming, well, normal. Gay parents are finding more acceptance than ever, in their home communities and our broader culture. The teens growing up today will, one hopes, live in an ever more tolerant society.
A new Pew study shows that the majority of Americans now think gay families are at least OK, and many think they add something valuable to society.
Not so single mamas. Only a third of Americans are accepting of family situations involving a single mom. That hasn’t changed much in the decades since Dan Quayle tore into fictional TV character Murphy Brown for being a single mom. Why are we so stubbornly judgmental about women raising their children alone?
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