I want to thank Ruchika Joshi for bringing up the issue of children in the same-sex marriage discussion. Joshi probably speaks for many by asking the question: What about the kids?
Children have been raised by gays and lesbians for a very long time. The concept isn’t new, it’s just more open. And while Joshi asks why these children should be raised in a gay enviornment, I ask, why not? Why should any child be raised in one environment over another?
Every parent has disadvantages, some much more damaging to the child than gay parents, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, bad finances, eating disorders, etc that render their parents truly unfit. All of the children I know of that have been removed from homes for domestic violence have been at the hands of heterosexual parents or guardians. All of them. Does that make every heterosexual parent inept at raising children? Of course not.
Every child has to bear the bully for one thing or another. I challenge that in this day and age, as the newer generations are more enlightned than those before, gay parents will be on the same level as hair color, the kind of car you drive or the funny sound of your last name.
To assume that one gay or lesbian parent takes the “male” or “female” role in parenting is absurd and insulting. To be a parent, all you have to do is be yourself. Whether the child picks up a doll or a truck has nothing to do with if one parent is the “girl” and one parent is the “boy.”
I have a 16 year old daughter, raised by lesbian parents. She is a happy, healthy, High Honor roll student, well versed in politics, science, math and the arts. She was elected to Who’s Who in America’s High Schools as a Sophomore, which a rare 12% of students nationally are awarded. She bought her first car herself, with money made from her own job.
She is beautiful, bright, spiritual, socially responsible and already planning for college. She has been raised to be proud of who she is, and who her mommies are. She can’t understand why there aren’t more gay and lesbian parents, and frankly, neither can I.
Statistically, gay parents are of a higher socioeconomic background with more expendible income, with the desire to raise a child in the confines of a loving and stable household. What an ideal place for a child.
A child raised in a gay or lesbian home is most prized, and treated for what they are – a gift. If the State would allow gay couples to adopt children, I can assure you, none of them would go unwanted. All children should be so lucky.
Connie AnastUniversity Hospital Staff