Forums | MacLife

radarman wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/28/gayby/index.html?eref=rss_latest

CNN -- Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers' right to marry.

Levey is part of the "gayby boom" generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination. He's their only child.

Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he's a "well-adjusted heterosexual" whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family.

"You can imagine what my parents thought when I was 13 and listening to Rush Limbaugh everyday," Levey says. "But my family had strong family values. I was raised in a loving, caring household that let me be a free thinker."

Interesting concept. Actually talking to the people we are talking about. I also didn't realize a term had been coined for the children of gay parents.

Talking to children of such couples isn't a new concept, and the stories they have to tell about the impact of same sex parents on them aren't always so rosy.

resedit wrote:

radarman wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/28/gayby/index.html?eref=rss_latest

CNN -- Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers' right to marry.

Levey is part of the "gayby boom" generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination. He's their only child.

Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he's a "well-adjusted heterosexual" whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family.

"You can imagine what my parents thought when I was 13 and listening to Rush Limbaugh everyday," Levey says. "But my family had strong family values. I was raised in a loving, caring household that let me be a free thinker."

Interesting concept. Actually talking to the people we are talking about. I also didn't realize a term had been coined for the children of gay parents.

Talking to children of such couples isn't a new concept, and the stories they have to tell about the impact of same sex parents on them aren't always so rosy.

source?

"Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he's a "well-adjusted heterosexual" whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family."

I can't believe this line of argument carries any weight with anybody. Children of heterosexual parents grow up with plenty of their own problems. Overall, I don't think most heterosexual couples are fit to raise kids. Gay parents couldn't possibly make things worse.

resedit wrote:

Talking to children of such couples isn't a new concept, and the stories they have to tell about the impact of same sex parents on them aren't always so rosy.

Not ALWAYS???

Golly gee Res, we ALL were under the asumption that it was ALWAYS rosy.

Thanks for clearing that up for us.

radarman wrote:

I think a heterosexual family is the ideal

Why?

I think a family that knows how to properly dress a child is the ideal.

bedstuy wrote:

radarman wrote:

I think a heterosexual family is the ideal

Why?

You have a role model of each gender in a heterosexual family.

bedstuy wrote:

radarman wrote:

bedstuy wrote:

Why?

You have a role model of each gender in a heterosexual family.

And that is important exactly how, and does the preponderance of studies show that as important?

Sheesh. I'm not arguing anything against gay couples raising children. It's also an issue with single-parent homes as well. It requires that the child look beyond his or her immediate family for an appropriate role model; and that may not be a person who has a personal interest in the welfare of that child.

Kids have to learn what the role of a "mommy" and "daddy" are from someone, and its best if they learn it from their parents - not a third party. Obviously children can be successfully raised in single-parent or gay families, it's just not the ideal. No, I don't have a ready link to a study to back it up - just plenty of personal experience (primarily with single-parent homes, admittedly)

Oh noes!!! A Hillary comment!

No, not at all. By your logic, children should only ever hold the same occupation as their parents. After all, they have no role model for anything else. Children of gay and lesbian couples will more than likely have extended family, friends, etc. There will be many people "raising" or influencing the child. My parents and I are very different and lead very different lives. I learned from others in my life that the choices my parents made did not have to be my own and that others are different and that's OK. In the end, other people outside my immediate family had a far greater impact on my life than my parents and siblings did. My immediate family turned out to be an example of who I didn't want to be as an adult and I've tried very hard to be as little like them as possible.

I find it odd that people think they can control every thing their child sees and hears, censor ideas they don't want their children exposed to or control who their children meet and interact with - or that they feel they even have the right to.

robco wrote:

No, not at all. By your logic, children should only ever hold the same occupation as their parents. After all, they have no role model for anything else. Children of gay and lesbian couples will more than likely have extended family, friends, etc. There will be many people "raising" or influencing the child. My parents and I are very different and lead very different lives. I learned from others in my life that the choices my parents made did not have to be my own and that others are different and that's OK. In the end, other people outside my immediate family had a far greater impact on my life than my parents and siblings did. My immediate family turned out to be an example of who I didn't want to be as an adult and I've tried very hard to be as little like them as possible.

I find it odd that people think they can control every thing their child sees and hears, censor ideas they don't want their children exposed to or control who their children meet and interact with - or that they feel they even have the right to.

Sure, there are parents that subscribe to that belief; that they should completely control their child's environment to the degree that they know of nothing else. I think that is a mistake, as those children either fail to thrive because they never found what they love to do; or rebel and go horribly awry.

However, I'm not talking about censorship, or expecting my child to follow in my footsteps. I'm talking about a child learning how to interact in society, and eventually (in all likelihood) with a person of the opposite sex in a mature relationship, by watching how their parents interact, or "life lessons" as they are called today. The fact is, statistically a child is going to end up heterosexual. How they deal with a relationship later is going to be largely determined by what they saw their parents doing in their relationship - which is why I believe that for most kids, a heterosexual family is ideal.

That said, I do think that any couple that loves and respects each other can raise a child that loves and respects. I just think there are some aspects of life that a child raised in a gay household misses.

Pithecanthropus wrote:

resedit wrote:

Talking to children of such couples isn't a new concept, and the stories they have to tell about the impact of same sex parents on them aren't always so rosy.

If I'm not mistaken you can find the same thing over and over again in children of "normal" or "traditional" couples.  In other words, it proves nothing.

My point exactly. It proves nothing.
Funny how almost any anecdotal report given that does not support the left agenda here gets jumped on as anecdotal but such reports that support the left agenda are not objected to. Kind of a double standard.

However, what is a valid point is that homosexuals have a much higher statistical occurrence of mental illness / instability, therefore, the argument can be made that placing a child in a home with two parents who are more likely to have instability issues is much riskier than placing a child in a home with two parents who are less likely to have instability issues.

Contrary to popular belief, there are not hundreds of children who are waiting for adoption.
The opposite is true, there are far more families waiting to adopt than there are children to be adopted.

This is because it rightfully is very difficult to terminate a parents rights, and children can not be adopted until the parent voluntarily gives up their rights (rarely done, getting their family back together is often something messed up parents hope for - and even often is what gets them to stick with whatever programs they need to get through) or the courts terminate parental rights.

Now in this case, where artificial insemination was used, he is the biological child of one of the parents and therefore that was the proper place for him to grow up.