Daughter of gay parents speaks out

Katy Faust is an advocate of children’s rights and the author of “Them Before Us: Why We need a Global Children’s rights Movement.”

My parents were married until I was 10 and then divorced. Then, my dad dated and remarried and my mom partnered with another woman, and they’ve been together since I was like 10 or 11. I love them both, but I do not have two moms. I have a mom and a dad just like everybody else. But I really love my mom and I love her partner, and I consider her my friend. I didn’t get into this like crusading over some kind of absence that I had in my childhood, because I stayed connected to both my mom and dad through it. I really got into the battle because I heard the other side saying during the marriage battle that kids don’t care if they’re raised by two moms or two dads, and that all kids need is to be safe and loved. And the problem with that is that if kids are raised by two dads, that means they have lost their mom, and if kids are raised by two moms, that means they have lost their dad. The main reason I got into this was this lie that the other side was telling you about who children are and what they need. The problem is not the gay parent. The problem with gay parenting is there’s always a missing parent. And when you do that unintentionally to a child, it’s an injustice. And then, it was the added bonus of people saying that traditional marriage supporters are haters and bigots, and they’re not right. I love my mom, I love my gay friends, just like pretty much every other Christian and conservative out there. It’s not bigotry and homophobia that fuels our support for a traditional marriage. For most of us, it’s because we recognize that marriage is the cornerstone of society and life offers a social good that no other institution can.