I Have Two Fathers

MYTH:
Having two fathers or two mothers is a social experiment
that puts children at risk.

TRUTH:

Here's a clip from the Dutch version of "Most Talented Kid" in which young Terence and a chorus of teens and pre-teens sing about his banally normal family life: Terence and his "two real fathers".

Note too that with same-sex marriage legal in the Netherlands, Terence does not live in a legal limbo with no certainty about who has responsibility for his well being. There's no question about who can make educational or medical decisions for him, or who will take care of him if one of his parents passes away in an untimely manner. Terence recognises this even if he sings mostly about homely things, like how his fathers are "sometimes cool and sometimes strict" and how the three of them "watch soaps on TV".

The truth is, whether or not our societies accept differing definitions of families, gay parents have and will always exist; either openly or hidden behind a story to pacify those less comfortable with the concept. Gay fathers in the late 1970s often parented their children while part of a heterosexual partnership, even for men who identified as homosexual. This is clearly the result of pre-defined social mouldings. Statistics show today that 1.6 million gay American men are married to women. Of these, a percentage of their wives and children are aware of their sexual orientation. Gay people have the same desires to raise children and sometimes fall to the social expectation that dictates this can only be filled in a traditional heterosexual family. Warning bells anyone?

Thankfully, today's view of whether gay parenting is risky is becoming ever more trivial. There are growing examples of children raised by gay parents who have emerged into adulthood as successful, loving heterosexuals. Even so, we hear of countless cases where gay parents require legal intervention to assure their family's legal standing. A same-sex couple in California USA recently won a federal court ruling that their adopted son's birth certificate include both the names of their legal parents. Besides the practical and emotional reasons for pushing this case forward, this debate wouldn't have been one if his adoptive parents were heterosexual.

Just because someone is a homosexual and is in a homosexual relationship it doesn't hinder their ability to be good parents; neither does it affect a child's development. The more the definition of what makes a parent and a family is broadened and redefined, the more potential for love a child has.