Having Gay Parents
Abigail Garner over at Damn Straight has a post up about what it's like to grow up with a gay parent.The post caught my attention since I just recently told my 10 year old sister that I was gay. Abigail's dad told her the news when she was 5. It didn't answer some of the questions I was hoping to get answered (like if she remembers what she thought when he told her), but it's very interesting and worth the quick read.
On a side note, Abigail is the author I talked about who's book, Families Like Mine, was completely dishonestly used by our good friend Paul Cameron in his recent "hate the gays with me" study.
posted by Brady @ 3:54 PM
2 Comments:
I always speak from my own experience....and, in this case...having sets of boys to "compare"...I'll say this:
Raising kids has as much to do with a parent's sexual identity as the parent allows it to have. In our case, the two who were raised during their formative years by the "homosexually oriented" are the MOST secure and SET, if that's a term, in their masculinity. It's almost as if they overcompensated...and yet...they have no knowledge of their father's sexual history.
It's a complex issue. I can't say that gay parents are bad parents any more than I can say that hetero parents are bad parents. We are all "bad" parents in one way or another because we are human. I guess I've just seen too many children being raised hideously by heterosexuals. It's just not an issue that is really and truly about sex.
just my opinion,
grace
Good points, Grace, and very interesting about your boys.
I was struck by Abigail's thoughts about how it affected her dealings with others outside of her family. She never says what her upbringing with her dad was, but it is implied that it was good.
She mostly talks about how other people (even other children) responded and still do respond when finding out her dad is openly gay. Mostly having to constantly here things like, "Oh, and you're still so normal," etc.
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