Posted on 05/25/2004 2:04:59 PM PDT by El Conservador
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - "I love my lesbian moms," read a hand-lettered sign a teen-ager held up recently to motorists passing a county building in Portland, Oregon, where gay couples lined up to get marriage licenses.
The message, prompted by the heated national debate over gay marriage, underscored a growing phenomenon -- lesbian couples having babies and raising families.
According to the Family Pride Coalition, a national advocacy group for gay and lesbian families, some 9 million children in America have at least one gay parent and one in five lesbian coupled households include a child under 18.
"I wouldn't call it a baby boom exactly. It has been steadily growing all along," said Aimee Gelnaw, a lesbian mother of two and executive director of the coalition.
Using artificial insemination to get pregnant, lesbians are four times more likely to have children than gay men.
"Same-sex couples and single women are 40 percent of our business, and it is the fastest-growing segment," said Marla Eby, vice president of marketing at California Cryobank Inc., Los Angeles, which ships semen nationwide.
The earliest lesbian-couple families often included children born into heterosexual marriages before the mothers "came out" as lesbians.
But in the 1980s many sperm banks opened their doors to unmarried women, making unconventional families more feasible.
Gay pride celebrations have begun including child-centered events with face painting and play activities. Gay parents can flip through the glossy magazine "And Baby" geared to their families.
CHOOSING A DONOR
The first step for lesbian would-be parents is choosing a sperm donor. Gay rights groups say the matter goes beyond weighing physical and mental attributes. Legal issues can arise, such as whether the donor would let the child know his identity, when he or she comes of age.
Once the baby is born, couples often take legal steps to protect their families. In the states that allow it, the non-biological mother often adopts the baby so both mothers' names can go on the birth certificate.
Unlike heterosexual married couples, lesbians often have to draw up complicated wills and directives to protect their families should one partner die or the relationship end.
The fragility of these families was recently brought home on a story line of the television show "ER" in which a female doctor and a female firefighter have a baby together. When the firefighter dies, her parents -- the biological grandparents -- refuse to hand over the infant boy to his other mother.
"The story line is very significant in my own life," said "ER" executive producer Dee Johnson, who has two sons with her female partner of 10 years.
Gelnaw relocated while she was adopting her partner's baby. When a judge declared the adoption "provisional," Gelnaw had to fly back several times for follow-up interviews.
"I have a master's degree in child development and I had to prove I was a fit parent. I had to sit there with this caseworker and tell her what we feed Dewey (their daughter) for breakfast," Gelnaw said.
Despite greater acceptance generally, vocal opponents of same-sex parenting remain. "We do not support gay marriage, gay adoption or gay people becoming parents," Michelle Ammons, director of communications for the Christian Coalition said. "We don't support bringing children into the gay lifestyle."
GOOD PARENTS
As a result, lesbian mothers sometimes move to "friendlier" states or communities, including Seattle and Portland.
Many lesbian couples also consider their children's well-being before they conceive, including the impact of not having a male role model in the home. Couples also worry that their children would be teased at school or the playground.
"We would have never had Carson if we had thought she would be bullied or have a hard time," Liz Viggiano, a Portland nurse said, rocking her 10-month-old daughter to sleep.
Studies show lesbian parents are doing a good job. "Absolutely, these kids do fine," said Dr. Nanette Gartrell, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who is in the 18th year of a study on lesbian families created by donor insemination.
Sometimes the children themselves put the whole controversy in perspective. Gelnaw said her son Zack decided on his own to stop giving interviews by the age of 12.
"Time magazine wanted to talk with him. He usually enjoyed doing the interviews, but we discussed it and he said 'No, I don't want to do it. I'm just a kid with parents, there is nothing to talk about."'
THIS IS PURE BRAVO SIERRA!!! The only thing these selfish, sexually depraved people think about is THEMSELVES!! They want to prove so badly that they can be "normal" that they will mess up the lives of children (who are nothing more than window dressing!)!
Couples also worry that their children would be teased at school or the playground.
Right! If they really cared about that, these sexual psychopaths wouldn't have the children! This wouldn't be an issue if they could bear their OWN children (without the use of a THIRD PARTY like they MUST do!)!
Me too. I had to check in to see what became of Dr. Ross' kids, but after that, I checked out. The show became a oh-so-diverse bed-hopping stew that bashed gun owners and pro-lifers, and I don't understand what the purpose was of whacking the arrogant doc's arm off.
Make SURE you know your child's friends and meet their parents before you allow them to go home with them. We can no longer trust that everyone's lifestyle is like our own.
Can't wait till these little freaks (the children of gay "couples") grow up and start tellin' their maladjusted tales. Ain't enough Ritalin in the world to keep the truth from coming out, and it ain't gonna be pretty.
Any doubt in your mind that that child is better off now?
I say, God bless anyone who adopts an unwanted child.
While there's certinly something in what you say, most lesbian couples are highly disfunctional compared to hetero couples. Domestic violence is greater, as is the incidence of other mental problems. Like lying to get the kid.
The only lesbian couple with a kid that I had extended contact with could in no way be decribed as normal. The biological mother was relatively normal, if a little smug. The butch was more macho than any three guys I know, always punching you on the arm, talking about how tough she was and how much she could press, etc. The poor little girl was sullen, silent and almost invisible.
I think giving a child to a lesbian couple is a very poor choice, in general. Especially a male child.
Compared to leaving him in China?
I heard of a scam in the Asheville area several years ago. Some homosexual women would seduce a man with a well paying job and get pregnant, then they would sock him for child support to support the homosexual "couple" raising the child.
"Totally ridiculous. History is full of women (sisters, mothers and grandmothers, friends, etc.) bringing up children alone because the children's fathers had died or left the family to go to war, or even because they were away at sea for decades."
Not ridiculous at all. It has been shown that children KNOW THE DIFFERENCE between a tragedy that can't be helped and a situation that flows from the parents selfishness.
"It is normal for children to be brought up by women. In traditional Christian and Jewish practice, it is also normal for a man to be part of this, but as a providing parent rather than a nuturing parent."
For most of the history of the world children had two parents. Your understanding of history doesn't go back to before the American century despite the fact that you cite Jewish history. The sad truth is that the feminist revolution took woman away from their kids but the forgotten part is that the Industrial Revolution took dad. Before that dads were very much a part of their kids world. Your placing greater emphasis upon the mothers role is a modern delusion.
"I am not saying there is anything wrong with a male parent who is more involved in the life of his kids. What I am saying is that these gay "activists" are trying to take a biological predisposition (women bring up children) and turn it into something sexual, which it is not and never had been."
I've read and re-read this last para and can make no sense of it at all.
"Check this sh!t out" ping.
ping
What I am saying is that women usually bring up children - it is only in this generation - which paradoxically probably has the most "single mothers" ever - that we have decided that the male parent is the nuturing parent and the female parent should be a providing parent, and that male and female parents are interchangeable.
I'm not saying that children should not have two parents of different sexes. What I am saying is that it is frequently women who bring up children after the men have died, left, or had some other disaster befall.
Sometimes they do it alone, but if they are lucky, they have help from other (female) relatives or friends.
It is only our generation that has converted this into something sexual.
Kids don't need pervert pseudo-parents or their plan to put all child custody in the hands of the government.
Kids need two parents--a father and a mother who is not rebellious against the old tenets of marriage.
Feminism/homosexual activism has been filthy from its beginnings. To the divorced mommy lobby and all its adherents: they all know where to go.
The truth about early feminism
http://familyops.us/anthonyproject/
"Some homosexual women would seduce a man with a well paying job and get pregnant, then they would sock him for child support to support the homosexual "couple" raising the child."
...which doesn't surprise me, either. Both political parties voted in favor of legislation like the Child Support Act and the VAWA to violate the constitutional rights of men and destroy the family. What draws politicians and influential constituents to cowtow to the witches? ...that smell, of course.
This has been the case in NYC for some time now. You see many lesbos with children, but very rarely do you see gay men with children.
Lesbians are 200% more likely to divorce than heterosexuals and gay men according to a survey in Sweden where gay marriage is legal.
She named her daughter Dewey? I guess that leaves Huey and Luey for the next kids, unless the Dewey has to due with a decimal system.
She named her child Dewey and then worries about the other kids making fun of her?
Homosexual Agenda Ping - back on the job, I'm gone for a few hours and look what happens!
I'll read them all later tonight -
Open for comments!
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
I think it was so ER could officially "jump the shark."
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