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Strollerderby
Zac with his brothers and two dads.
Zac had been shuffled from one foster home to the next after his mother was arrested and lost custody of her children. He lived in 12 foster homes in three years. When he was 11, the social worker assigned to his case finally found him a permanent placement … in a family with two dads. As Zac put it, “It didn’t matter to me. I told them, ‘Well, I never had a dad, now I get to have two!’”
Zac admits that adjusting to life with his dads, Arturo and Dave, or as he calls them, Dad and Dadio, was rough at first, and that they stuck by him even after he maxed out their credit cards without permission. In a Christmas letter to his family, he wrote, “If I could only ask for anything for Christmas I would only ask for my family.” Continue reading »
Actor, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka vacationing with their twins.
It’s a belief I’ve vocalized in the past when discussing gay marriage with friends: generally speaking, gays make better parents than heteros. The only reason I’ve come to this conclusion is that gay couples usually have to work really hard to have children. They can’t just pop ‘em out as easy as we heteros usually can. So, much like adopted parents, it seems that gay couples are generally really sure they want kids before having them.
Again, that’s generally speaking.
So that doesn’t necessarily mean all gays and lesbians will be amazing parents but, you know, actually wanting children is a pretty good place to start. So many hetero couples squeeze kids out just because nature has made it easier for them to get knocked up or society dictates getting married and having kids is what you’re supposed to do.
Still, I acknowledge this theory of mine is still just a generalization. But, generalization or no, a new study confirms my speculation. As Yahoo News reports, “in some ways gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don’t.” Continue reading »
Pat Robertson Crazy Comments
Give someone a pulpit and they have the opportunity to rant, rave and say some pretty wackadoodle statements. And TV evangelist and 700 Club host Pat Robertson did just that when he used his platform to make some bizarre statements this week.
The 81-year-old preacher made the claim that he believed that ‘the left’ have opted to support abortions saying “they want to do this, they want to destroy,” in order to…get this…make straight women more like lesbians. Huh? Continue reading »
The first conception to adolescence study to follow daughters and sons of lesbian couples has found that kids raised by two female parents grow up to be better adjusted and higher achieving than their peers.
The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) followed 77 lesbian families for 25 years when they were first starting the donor insemination process. Those kids are now 18 to 23 years old, and the most recent data was collected by asking parents and their now 17-year-old kids to fill out standardized psychological questionnaires about their feelings and experiences.
The NLLFS discovered that teens raised by lesbian parents are rated higher in social and academic areas, as well as overall confidence, and have lower rates of negative teen behaviors like rule-breaking and aggression. This came as a surprise to NLLFS principal investigator Nanette Gartrell, MD, who told CNN.com, “I would have anticipated the kids would be doing as well as the normative sample. I didn’t expect better.”
“America’s got a bad case of gayby fever,” writes Thomas Rogers at Salon, who says that the gay parenting boom is reshaping the American family.
According to a 2007 study, more than one in three lesbians has given birth and one in six gay men have fathered or adopted a child. The same studied showed that more than half of gay men and 41 percent of lesbians say they want to have a child.
Pop culture is keeping up with the trend. The Sundance hit “The Kids Are Alright,” starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as gay parents, is already getting buzz as the “must-see” movie of the summer. Hit TV show “Modern Family” features gay parents. Dan Savage’s memoir “The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant” has just been turned into an off-Broadway musical.
And celebrities such as Ricky Martin, Clay Aiken, Rosie O’Donnell, Melissa Etheridge serve as the unofficial spokespeople for gay parenthood. Continue reading »
Based on my own personal, anecdotal experience, I’d have to agree with these conclusions — the lesbian parents I know are far better parents than I am. The same, actually, is true of the guys raising kids together too. Of course, all that is nothing more than one person’s experience and may very well be more indicative of my lack of skill than their exceptional abilities. There is, however, actual scientific research on the matter and it matches what I’ve encountered personally — Lesbians are better parents than straight couples.
The judge who overturned Florida’s ban on gay parents adopting children has been demoted. Judge Cindy Lederman made Florida history in November 2008, granting the adoption of the children of a gay foster dad who had been raising them all their lives. Judge Lederman called the ban unconstitutional.
After her ruling, the state Continue reading »
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