GAY PRIDE, PARENTING, and MARRIAGE

Last week, National Gay Pride was celebrated throughout the country.  Parades and festivities from Los Angeles to New York accentuated the annual event, which has traditionally been an attempt to raise awareness and acceptance of Gays and Lesbians.  So how is it going?

25 years ago, many Gay and Lesbian couples were demonized and looked at in embarrassment and shame. But a lot has happened since then, including the approval of gay marriage in a variety of (some unexpected) states, acceptance of domestic partnerships and their rights within the workplace, and the inclusion of Gay and Lesbian partners in health coverage and medical decisions, among other advances. Even the U.S. Military may soon see an end to the antiquated “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which would allow Gay and Lesbian military personnel to serve openly without risk of punishment or expulsion. With the deaths of an older generation and their older/outdated mentalities, the ushering in of a younger and more progressive/accepting generation is now leading the fight. And arguably, the acceptance of Gays and Lesbians in modern society has grown leaps and bounds from even just a few short years ago.

But, there are still some stalwart institutions hell-bent on seeing anything Gay or Lesbian related to fail.  The Republican Party, the religious right, and several churches and faiths are doing everything in their power to prevent gay marriage, gay rights, and gay adoption.  Their usual mantra is they only want to protect the “sanctity of marriage,” which is laughable once you consider the incredibly high heterosexual divorce rate and the myriad of reasons why people get married, including citizenship, tax breaks, health benefits, pregnancy, or just as a joke (Britney Spears).  These groups also wish to prevent gay adoptions, saying they only want to “protect the family” and that a child needs a mother AND a father in the household, forgetting that many children have successfully grown up in single parent homes due to divorce, out-of-wedlock birth, or death of a parent.

To commemorate Gay Pride, CNN presented this past weekend the documentary “Gary and Tony Have a Baby,” where host Soledad O’Brien followed a same-sex couple in their struggle against the legal and personal obstacles to become parents.  It was a gripping piece which showed the still powerful, yet dying divide regarding ideas of sexuality, and one that will surely open up heated debate on the pros and cons of loving but gay parents.

And so, in our own commemoration of Gay Pride Week, OK WASSUP! is providing double survey questions today in the right column of this page, instead of our usual single survey.  We want to know:

DO YOU BELIEVE SEXUALITY IS A CHOICE?

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DO YOU BELIEVE GAY COUPLES SHOULD MARRY OR BE PARENTS?