I am a legally married gay mother of 2. Ask me anything

Anonymous
Another lesbian mom here-I totally understand why someone might want to explain to her child: "One of Heather's mommies provided the egg that made made her and got (bought, borrowed, bartered) the sperm that made her from a man." However, I don't understand why biological accuracy needs to negate legal/social parenthood. And denying legal/social parenthood by focusing only on biology may lead to the kind of confusion you are hoping to avoid. Isn't more accurate to say "Heather's mommies both love her and care for her even though only one of them provided the egg," than "Heather thinks she has to mommies, but even though they both think that they are her parents and act like her parents, one of them is a fake who has no biological connection to Heather."
Anonymous
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Would you be upset if I told my child that that is not really the case? That is back to the zygote thing. BTW, I am open minded enough that my kids at three knew what a zygote was, complete with microscope images. They know all about the human genome and more than most of their friends, so they already know that two women can not have a child. To me it is like calling your father's second wife a mother, just not factual.


NP here - No offense, but you're nitpicking the biology here because you don't accept that gay parents constitute a family, and want to pass that message along to your kids without SEEMING like a homophobe. You know full well that when discussing a family with a 5 yo, the important thing is the familial relationship, not the ins and outs of the biological ancestry. The terms "mother" and "father" aren't used to identify the biological parents, they're used to identify the role in the family structure. A female parent is known as a mother, the child has two female parents, therefore, the child has two mothers. If you're telling them that isn't true, you're the one who's confusing them.

Do you also tell them that the heterosexual couple who adopted a kid in their class aren't really the kid's parents? It's exactly the same principle.

On another note, I wonder if your slavish devotion to science holds when your kids are taught about evolution? After all, that is the scientific explanation for the beginning of human life. Do you let it go at that?


Now that you bring it up. We spend a ton of time at museums and talk about evolution, natural selection, and so on. No Adam and Eve, never was, sorry. The first time I heard about Heather and two mommies, I said, may as well tell them about the stork, just dumb. FWIW, two of my gay friends have kids, and those kids have a mother and father regardless of marriage. In this case, no anonymous donors, just decided to have kids with people they liked. My kids have an adopted cousin, and they KNOW that he has a bio mom somewhere in CA, and he was legally adopted by his parents.


So you’re saying your child rejects the cousin's adopted parents and refuses to acknowledge them as the kid's mom and dad since it's physically impossible for a zygote to have two moms and two dads? And the "real" mom and dad are out there, and obviously not the people raising him. So the people raising the cousin are just... random people? Is your family dumbfounded that the two people raising the cousin refer to themselves as the mom and dad. What a joke, right? I can’t believe they could be so ridiculous to try to pull the wool over your kids eyes that way!

FWIW, every gay couple I know in MD+DC the other mom has legally adopted the child so there are two legal moms (one the bio) and there is also a bio dad out there, whether a donor or an involved dad.


No, no rejection. They just understand that if their aunt has heart disease, it is unlikely thattheir son will have this problem. The issue I have is that the children end up confused. We went through a generation of lies about reproduction, so why start over. Of course kids will eventually get it, but why not explain from the get go.

WRT the comment about embryo transfer, unless there is a really good reason for such a thing, I find it silly. I had IVF, and to this date, I worry about potential chromosomal abnormalities that could surface later as a result of the technique. The oldes IVF child is still too young to know.


So, in this scenario, if your kid asked about their classmate with two mommies, after you got done explaining that their classmate in fact does not have two mommies, how would you explain the second woman living with their classmate?


I would say the mother's wife, who adopted them.


I am a bio mom. My partner participated in and was there at conception, was ecstatic at the ultrasounds, cried at the birth, cut her cord, was the first person to ever hold and snuggle our daughter. Went out to the waiting to tell our family members, cue more crying. She was placed on the birth certificate at the hospital as a “real” parent… and so the story goes from there.

I think you should try telling your ideas to our daughter. She would look at me like, wow where did this idiot come from . Which I guess might forces us to have the painful talk with her about the huge variability in intelligence in the human species, due to genetic and environmental influences. And that while she DD blessed in the intelligence department, not everyone is. And we would move on
Anonymous
= And that while she, DD, is blessed in the intelligence department, not everyone is. And we would move on.

Too many typos when the thread is so long it won't let you see what you are typing
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If I knew how to give OP a standing ovation over the internet for starting and maintaining this thread, I would.


Seriously. Hats off to you for having copious amounts of patience. And I hope the fact that some of us support you 100% makes up, even the tiniest bit, for the folks who don't.
NotSoAnonymous
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Q:What are your favorite LGBT blogs and websites? I'm so sad that Dykes to Watch Out For has stopped!
Signed,
Married lesbian MOTHER to-be (counting down the days until wife gives birth!)

A: favorites include Dorothy Snarker- http://dorothysurrenders.blogspot.com for pop culture and Pam's house Blend for politics.
And- EEEEEEE!!! That is so exciting! I love the itty bitties!
NotSoAnonymous
Member Offline
Q/c: Seriously. Hats off to you for having copious amounts of patience. And I hope the fact that some of us support you 100% makes up, even the tiniest bit, for the folks who don't.

A: Thanks. As a wise man once said, "haters gonna hate". I'm not going to dwell on them. But thanks for the support- this latest poster is being pretty dismissive of a lot of families, not just my own.
Anonymous
I am the partner to a mother of 2 teenagers, one a 14 year old girl that is totally not ok with her mother being a lesbian and the other a 19 year old man that is in the army and could care less. The daughter is having major issues with all of this and has for some times. My partner and the childrens father have shared custody. Her father and his family are very religious and totally against homosexuality. My partner and I are struggling to build a health happy relationship with our daughter but nothing seems to be working. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, morgan
Anonymous
OP, your initial post and all the follow-ups were great - but look what you spawned!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I am the partner to a mother of 2 teenagers, one a 14 year old girl that is totally not ok with her mother being a lesbian and the other a 19 year old man that is in the army and could care less. The daughter is having major issues with all of this and has for some times. My partner and the childrens father have shared custody. Her father and his family are very religious and totally against homosexuality. My partner and I are struggling to build a health happy relationship with our daughter but nothing seems to be working. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, morgan


Look up Zach Wahls on Youtube. First watch his first, wonderful speech before the Iowa state Senate and then look for the various interviews. Let your daughter see what this wonderful young man has taken from his family life being raised by two mothers. He's an inspiration to us all. Good luck.
NotSoAnonymous
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C: OP, your initial post and all the follow-ups were great - but look what you spawned!

A: I actually debated posting an apology. I really was just trying to figure out a way to communicate beyond the rhetoric, but now I broke Off-Topic. I am sorry!
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