My disdain for McCain notwithstanding, he didn't get that from me. Moreover, I'm trying to turn the page on the past and move beyond the politics of demonization.
McCain is not helping me.
The recent adoption flap is an example. First he's against gay adoption, then he's for it as a last resort. Sean Bugg sums up the hapless Republican candidate's position quite well:
So, an adopted child with stable, employed and loving gay parents is better off than he would be in the gutter, but not as well off as he would be living in a trailer park with unemployed, unstable and disinterested heterosexual parents.
Now, I'm a gay dad but I didn't adopt. Like my hetero cohorts, I chose to bless the world with my genes. And Eli not only has two dads, he has two mommies (long story).
Lord knows what McCain would think about that (to the extent he's really thought about the whole gay thing at all, which I'm guessing given his incoherence on anything gay, he has not). But judging by the right's furor over Mary Cheney's baby, I'm guessing Eli's very existence and the love he feels for his parents would not meet the Republican's "being raised by two gays is better than an orphanage but just barely" standard.
I got a fresh look at it from Eli's perspective today.
We were eating lunch at MacDonalds (I know, I know, I swear the other two meals a day are healthy). It was crowded and we were jammed next to a table of what once would have been called "Meter Maids." One of them in particular took a shine to Eli, and said to him, "You be a good boy for your Mommy and your Daddy." Eli looked at her and said, "okay," then, "and I'll be good for Mama too!" The lady looked confused and said "okay." But Eli wasn't done. "And I'll be good for Pappa!"
I love when this happens. Eli's victims never know what to make of this. The three-year-old is speaking quite literally and simply but it's beyond the comprehension of the adults.
But my point is this: McCain stands for those who would do everything in their power to destroy or prevent the family that Eli loves.
If there is anything more monstrous to a three-year-old, I can't think of it.
3 comments:
Eat away at McDonalds! You're sticking it to the wingnuts in AFA who are trying to organize a boycott of McD's since they support the LGBT Chamber of Commerce.. heck I had a big mac just the other day.. although I did refrain from supersizes it!
B
Fatherhood has never taken hold of me, so I have kept out of the gene pool, but I am so happpy for those of you who have taken the plunge into parenthood. In my experience, gays seem to treasure their children even more so than breeders do. It seems the heteros have children because that's what they're expected to do (or maybe they haven't yet figured out where babies come from), but gays have children because they WANT to.
Way to go, Scott! (and don't sweat the McDonald's incident! LOL)
There is no such thing as an accidental adoption.
Not to mention the home visits, applications, financial disclosures, and interviews adoptive parents must undergo before becoming parents in the first place. If all of this were required before any straight couple could "make" a baby we'd have a lot fewer problems.
You can't underestimate the will and love of parents, gay or straight, who make the choice to adopt. John McCain's remarks completely miss this point for the sake of energizing a bigoted base.
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