Here is the ninth in my series of quotes from Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting. I’ll be running them for a couple of weeks courtesy of the book’s editor, Rachel Epstein. I’m choosing the quotes I feel are most intriguing and thought provoking; I don’t always agree with the sentiments, but I hope they will spur some discussion in the comments and encourage you to seek out the book for yourselves.
For more on how to get this Canadian-published volume (and you should!), see my original post about it.
Today’s quote is from Diane Flacks’ “Mommies in Critical Care”:
One, night, a baby who had been our roommate in the NICU for two months died unexpectedly. The next morning, his parents asked us to come into the bereavement room with their family. We realized we knew their baby better than most of their relatives, because visiting is not encouraged in the NICU. This deeply Christian family had invited the “two mommies” to share this most intimate moment. . . .
This experience has revealed to me, again and again, the power and the necessity of being out, claiming our space, feeling second to no one, with no need to justify our choices to be parents. Once we did so, as open and caring parents, with a touch of dark humour, mostly everyone was happy to respect and honour us as mothers and co-warriors with them for our sick child, despite whatever prior limited contact they’d had with queer parents.