"children" is a code word.

[kengr]

Old news, but...

Church hears call for gay marriage foes

"Children are those who have no voice in this debate," said Thomas Minnery, head of public policy for the conservative Colorado group Focus on the Family. "How is it two men can teach a young girl to be a woman? How is it two women can teach a young boy to be a man? There is no answer to this question."

Oh really? Let's examine this...

How is it two men can teach a young girl to be a woman?
Gee, how about the same way a single father does? Or are wives not allowed to die (or get divorced) if they have daughters?

How is it two women can teach a young boy to be a man?
Same way a single mother does.

Hate to break it to these idiots, but this is why Big Brothers and Big Sisters *exist*. And even then they tend to be of more use if there aren't any close family friends or relatives of the appropriate gender (and assuming that you actually *believe* that the stuff that needs to be taught can't be taught by a parent of the other gender)

So what all this *really* is is the typical religious right smoke screen. Whenever they start bring up "children" what they really mean is "we want you to react emotionally and not actually *think* or examine any evidence.

They've done it on censoring the Net, they've done it one a lot of things. And they are doing it with gay marriage. Hopefully, people will start wising up.

Comments

[morgan-gw.livejournal.com]

As a mother of boys, who was a single mother to one of them for five eyars, I can say there are some things it's very difficult for a woman to teach a boychild. Peeing standing up comes to mind ;-).

But I agree with your point -- single parents have been successfully raising children of the other gender for eons, and having _two_ parents of the same gender instead of one makes no nevermind on this issue.

[kengr]

Having been *raised* by a single motther I'm quite aware of the difficulties. :-)

But I'd rather have been raised by her and a lesbian partner than just her. For one simple reason. With two parents, it's less likely that the kid will get unecessarily hurt/neglected simply because the odds of *both* parents being out of control or preoccupied that badly at the same time are lower.

Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it improves the chances. As would adding extra adults.

[satanslilith.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. And while there are still difficulties in the single parent/same sex parents raising children of the opposite sex, I think the same sex parents have an advantage. There are two of them, which means you have someone to lean on during the difficult times, and someone to talk to about the situations that might raise problems. Like the peeing standing up lol. There are two people to look at the situation and give different points of view, which makes it more likely to be easily resolved.