Even mainstream media seems to be paying attention to gay dads this week:
- MSNBC’s Mike Stuckey spoke with two Seattle men who have three sons, Zach, Zayn, and Zeth, who [despite growing up to hate alphabetical order] are doing much better than they were with their “substance-abusing and incarcerated biological parents.” The judge who granted them the adoption said “You are heroes in our community.”I can’t quite agree with Stuckey, though, that “while [gay parents] are nagged by recurring attempts by political and religious interests to rally followers around anti-gay issues, they are generally too busy juggling juice boxes and car seats to notice.” We notice, and we act. Otherwise, this is a sympathetic article (Stuckey calls the dads “a couple of soft-spoken teddy bears”) with a national reach.
- In the Orlando Sentinel, George Diaz profiles two gay dads in Florida, who share custody of their son with the ex-wife of one of the men. He describes their loving and attentive home (“The child has been with a baby sitter 10 times tops in his life”). While there are 887 Florida children in need of adoption, Diaz asks why gay people are deemed fit to be foster parents but not adoptive parents. A timely, supportive article in a state that needs to listen.
- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is not gay himself, but his daughter Katherine just announced to the public that she is. Gov. Patrick and First Lady Diane Patrick marched with her in yesterday’s Boston Pride Parade.
LGBT newspapers also get in on the holiday:
- Matt Shafer of Southern Voice takes a look at gay fathers in Georgia and the difficulties of adoption, both in getting matched with a child and negotiating the various legal issues.
- Moving west, Daniel A. Kusher of the Dallas Voice profiles two dads in Oak Cliff, Texas, and their two children.
- All the way across the country, Matthew S. Bajko of the Bay Area Reporter wisely observes “While gay dads have been a growing phenomenon for some time, up until now they have not garnered nearly as much attention as lesbian moms.” He then shares the stories of several high-profile gay dads in the region: filmmaker Johnny Symons and his partner William Rogers, director of Berkeley’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, and San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is pushing for the historically gay Castro district to cater to the parents in the area. Bajko also tackles the issue of HIV-positive men who are choosing to become fathers through adoption, surrogacy with sperm from another man, or even now through the use of their own sperm.
- This leads us to the news about HIV-positive men using their own sperm to become fathers, after it is washed clean of the virus. The story seems to be all over the place thanks to a well-timed press release from Growing Generations. The Dallas Voice notes the news has caused an uproar among some who feel “too many issues come along with being HIV positive and raising children.”
- On Top reports on two new documentaries about gay dads: Out In India: A Family’s Journey, about a gay American couple with two young children who live in India for nine months and organize Indian artists to fight AIDS, and Fatherhood Dreams, about four gay men pursuing fatherhood in different ways.
Last, but certainly not least, Polly writes of The trouble with Mother’s Day (or, Why I’m glad to be a Lesbian Dad).
To all the dads out there no matter how created or defined (including, of course, my own), have a very happy day!