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Parent A and Parent B - and baby makes C? (or Thing-One and Thing-Two make Thing-Three)
Townhall ^ | July 29, 2005 | Kathleen Parker

Posted on 07/29/2005 9:47:45 AM PDT by HawaiianGecko

 

 

 

Parent A and Parent B - and baby makes C?
Kathleen Parker (archive)
 

July 29, 2005 | printer friendly version Print | email to a friend Recommend to a friend

The slippery slope that wasn't supposed to happen once same-sex marriage was granted is making [Mount] Everest jealous.

In Massachusetts this week, Gov. Mitt Romney has been butting heads with same-sex couples over birth certificates for their newborns. I'll give you a minute to wrap your mind around that concept.

The problem is that birth certificates as currently written reflect archaic notions of procreation, that is, involving a mother and father. Thus, gay and lesbian parents have asked the state to replace "mother" and "father" with Parent A and Parent B.

And we thought Dr. Seuss was just being silly when he created Thing One and Thing Two in his "Cat in the Hat" series.

Romney thus far has prevailed in declining to eradicate the notion of mother and father from his little corner of civilization, noting that all children not only have a right to a mother and a father but, in biological fact, (BEG) do have a mother and a father. Records should reflect that reality to the extent possible, says Romney.

Nevertheless, recognizing that married same-sex couples do have children these days, Romney has been instructing hospitals to cross out the word "Mother" or "Father" and write in "Second Parent" as necessary to accommodate individual cases.
The governor's view is that these altered certificates, while not perfect, at least resolve the immediate issue of recording the intended, if not the biological, parents' names.

Problems arose recently when Massachusetts town clerks suggested that certificates thus altered might not pass legal muster in some circumstances and urged that new forms be created. Although Romney has refused, it's probably only a matter of time before the courts are asked to intervene.

The fuss over birth certificate terminology might seem insignificant in the scheme of things, but words matter. The larger effects of this little two-word change are enormous over the long haul, despite protestations to the contrary, and Romney seems among the few willing or able to articulate them.

Children are born of man and woman. Or so it has always been. Now with technology, sperm donors and "uterobots" - women willing to sell or give away the flesh of their flesh - any random collection of human beings can "parent."

Or so the theory goes.

In one case Romney recently had to entertain, two men - one a sperm donor and the other his boyfriend - became "parents" when a woman gave birth to the donor's child. The two men wanted their names on the birth certificate, with the boyfriend replacing the birth mother. In a bold act of increasingly rare sanity, Romney said "no."

No doubt the gentlemen-parents were distressed by this negative intrusion into their familial fantasy, but Romney appears to understand that effectively codifying the "family" of two men and a newborn birthed by a uterobot has extensive implications.
Meanwhile, one can't help but feel sorry for the infant - Baby C, or Thing Three?

"Thing" is used here neither dismissively nor derisively, but as a term of stunning accuracy. Throughout our culture, children have become objectified, "thingified," created or acquired for the fulfillment of our selves - decor options, accessories, cute little bundles for our entertainment and amusement.

Unless, of course, we're not in the mood, in which case we hit the "abort" button, the ultimate expression of "thingification."

As long as children are viewed as mere extensions of our selves, put here to satisfy some narcissistic need for self-actualization, it is easy to suppose that our needs and their needs are complementary. If same-sex marriage is what "I" need, then two same-sex parents are what "my" child needs.

What we know but the courts apparently choose to ignore is that identity and selfhood are rooted, in part, in our biological origins. Adopted children seek out biological parents in their quest for identity. Genealogical organizations do a brisk business as families try to reconstruct their lineage. "Who am I?" keeps psychotherapists in new Volvos.

Obviously, narcissism isn't limited to the gay community, but it is surely at the root of the current skirmish in Massachusetts. What's really behind the push for biology-neutral birth certificates isn't fairness, or equal rights, but the elimination of any biological/procreative connection to parenthood.

Same-sex couples need this and, therefore goes the Seussian Logic, it is good for the children as well as civilization. Once the idea of a biological mother and father is expunged from the culture, there is one less logical impediment to normalizing same-sex marriage, which is, of course, the point.

©2005 Tribune Media Services

 

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TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: bravenewworld; dupe; homosexualagenda
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Well reasoned and insightful article.
1 posted on 07/29/2005 9:47:45 AM PDT by HawaiianGecko
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To: HawaiianGecko

This just makes me ill. It takes one egg (from a woman) and one sperm (from a man) to make a child. Children deserve to know their parentage.


2 posted on 07/29/2005 9:51:14 AM PDT by conservative cat
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To: HawaiianGecko

The slippery slope seems to have an awful lot of Vaseline on it these days.


3 posted on 07/29/2005 9:53:00 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: HawaiianGecko
Lord, please come and fulfill the prophesy of the Revelation. I'm afraid that the world is due for a flush. Thanks, me
4 posted on 07/29/2005 9:55:19 AM PDT by yooling (A Møøse once bit my sister...)
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To: HawaiianGecko
I think this argument is slighty off- adopted children already receive new birth certificates, with their adoptive paretns listed as mother and father. The original is sealed with the records. There is nothing wrong with this practice, it saves the child from embarassment and protects the privacy of birth parents.

The problem of "parent" and "parent" is that it eliminates the gender differences inherent in "mother" and "father". A mother is not just a female parent, it is a distinct role, as is being a father.

5 posted on 07/29/2005 9:58:03 AM PDT by LWalk18
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To: HawaiianGecko

For lesbian couples, record the name of the birth mother and "Sperm Donor" as the father.

For turd burglars, list the father and "Womb Donor" as the mother.

The "other parent" can get his/her name on an adoption certificate.


6 posted on 07/29/2005 9:58:25 AM PDT by FormerLib (Kosova: "land stolen from Serbs and given to terrorist killers in a futile attempt to appease them.")
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To: conservative cat
Children deserve to know their parentage.

Does a child really need to now that they are the product of a rape or that their birth parents are father and daughter? Sometimes adoption is a way to give a child a chance to overcome a horrible beginning, and privacy should not be thown out with the bathwater in order to avoid the perversion of the idea of mother and father.

7 posted on 07/29/2005 10:02:31 AM PDT by LWalk18
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To: FormerLib
Egg Donor:

Sperm Donor:

Custodial Parent 1:

Custodial Parent 2:(where applicable)

Custodial Parent 3:(where applicable)

Custodial Parent 4:(where applicable)

8 posted on 07/29/2005 10:07:10 AM PDT by carmody
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To: carmody

You forgot Womb Donor! (The egg can come from elsewhere.)

And no mention of the Turkey Baster? You some kinda bigot?

Hmm, is it acceptable to refer to such kids as "little basterds?"


9 posted on 07/29/2005 10:09:13 AM PDT by FormerLib (Kosova: "land stolen from Serbs and given to terrorist killers in a futile attempt to appease them.")
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To: HawaiianGecko
Dr. Seuss was a visionary.

Just call 'em "Thing One" and "Thing Two".

10 posted on 07/29/2005 10:11:03 AM PDT by George Smiley (This tagline deliberately targeted journalists.)
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To: HawaiianGecko

I think in the interest of keeping the most useful information, birth certificates should be required to list the name of the people who gave the egg and sperm. If they want to have additional names, that's fine. If they want to have a second, non-official document, that's fine.

But when the kid is 25, and we discover the cure for something, but it requires cells from a parent, we'll feel pretty stupid knowing that for the sake of PC we sacrificed these children's chance for treatment.


11 posted on 07/29/2005 10:18:05 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: FormerLib
lol ... Apparently I'm 'wombophobic.' Lawyers will have to be consulted to create the new 'Certificate of Creation.'

"Whereas the 'womb' is the primary residence of the pre-newborn and whereas an egg donor was determined and whereas the sperm donor (knowingly or unknowingly, willing or unwilling) was determined we hereby declare this fully formed newborn to be the result of the joining of egg donor ________ and sperm donor _______ incubated in the womb of ________ (mark here ___ if artificial womb used.) Newborn fetus named _______ will be the sole possession of Parent 1 ________ and/or Parent 2 ________ and/or Parent 3 _________ and/or Parent 4 ________. Listing of parents in no way indicates which of the aforementioned named parents has primary custody as all listed have primary and equal custody. Any disputes of this certificate should be brought to the attention of the U.S. Department of Human Custody."

12 posted on 07/29/2005 10:24:18 AM PDT by carmody
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Do adoptees' birth certificates always list the biological parents? I thought that many don't, and if the birth parents don't want their identities known to the child they have that right.


13 posted on 07/29/2005 10:26:31 AM PDT by HostileTerritory
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To: HawaiianGecko; conservative cat

Most if not all states routinely issue birth certificates showing the names of adoptive parents, instead of biological parents. And all states routinely issue birth certificates listing whatever man the mother happens to name as "father", with research showing that a large percentage of these are not the actual biological fathers. Birth certificates, at least for the past century or so, have never been intended as a means of identifying a child's biological parentage, but rather as a means of identifying a child's legal parentage -- who has rights to make decisions for the child.


14 posted on 07/29/2005 10:31:41 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: HawaiianGecko
Parent A and Parent B - and baby makes C?

So on the registration form, do they identify homosexual couples by asking: "Two 'B', or not two 'B'?" ;)

15 posted on 07/29/2005 10:33:05 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Democracy...will be revengeful, bloody, and cruel." -- John Adams)
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To: FormerLib

All well and good except that, as the author pointed out, it's not about raising a child but about fulfilling a self want, a materialistic craving so to speak.


16 posted on 07/29/2005 10:34:36 AM PDT by kx9088
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To: HostileTerritory

You are correct, I believe. This isn't a gay issue.

If you want to keep it secret, have a "for public use" record which has what the parents want. But lets make sure the OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS tell the truth.


17 posted on 07/29/2005 10:40:25 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: kx9088

Yes. In fact, the supporters of gay marriage are pushing to have the official birth certificates changed to remove father and mother. Not just for THEIR children, but for every child in Mass.

This article made it sound like the "crossing out" was the problem. But the fact is that the gay organizations don't support having TWO documents either, because they say that their document will be discriminated against and make them 2nd class citizens relative to those which list a real father and mother.

Of course, in the end it's the children who are REALLY discriminated against because they don't have a father and a mother, but that is of no concern to them, just the appearance and what it means to them.


18 posted on 07/29/2005 10:43:09 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: GovernmentShrinker

It was my understanding that there is an original birth certificate out there that shows the biological parents. That information may be sealed but it exists. My DH had a son given up for adoption. There are records out there that show he was the bioligical parent, because they had to go to court to adopt the child. The adoptive parents were not official at birth.


19 posted on 07/29/2005 10:43:54 AM PDT by conservative cat
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To: CharlesWayneCT
But lets make sure the OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS tell the truth.

I completely agree.

20 posted on 07/29/2005 10:45:50 AM PDT by conservative cat
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