Two pieces caught my eye this week that take a nuanced and unflinching look at the challenges and joys of having lesbian moms. Personally, I love reading pieces by grown children of LGBT parents. It’s useful to read things by other LGBT parents, of course — but the perspectives of those who have LGBT parents help me better understand how my son might view certain things in his world as he grows up. (Not that everyone who has LGBT parents will think the same — but they help me realize some of the possibilities.)
Lara Lillibridge writes at Brain, Child about “Being Raised by Lesbians.” She tells of the difficulty she has because “the story everyone wants to hear isn’t the story I want to tell. Everyone wants to know what it was like to be raised by lesbians.” She explains “The most interesting thing about my life is not about me at all; it is about my parents. Perhaps I deny its importance because I want to be the most interesting character in my own story.” Go read the rest of her thoughts, including why, in the end, she “can’t tell you what it was like to have lesbian parents.”
Emma Tattenbaum-Fine writes at her own blog, Two and a Half Women, “Wish You Were Dead So I Could Have a Daddy.” That sounds dire, but it’s really a thoughtful, if difficult, piece on her relationship with her non-biological mother. Despite their sometimes confrontational relationship, she says, “She loves me with the force that perhaps only a non-biological mother can. A force that is less like the strength of blood and more like the strength of a Mack Truck. ” If that doesn’t get you to go read, nothing will.
Enjoy!
