The Food Network vs. Mike Huckabee on Gay Adoption
Last week Mike Huckabee told some students at the College of New Jersey that same-sex marriage was just like incest and polygamy, and that gays and lesbians should be banned from adopting children. Let 'em have puppies, Huckabee argued, but not kids.
How to respond? Well, you could create a Facebook group (Puppies Against Huckabee!). You could be like Whoopi Goldberg, and take Huckabee to task for not understanding that so long as children are raised by loving parents, it doesn't matter whether those parents are gay or straight.
Or you could be like Steve McDonagh and Dan Smith, two Food Network hosts who happen to be partnered and raising an adopted child. What did they do? They invited Mike Huckabee to come to their house in Chicago for dinner, to discover that LGBT families aren't all that different from Huckabee's definition of family.
McDonagh wrote on his blog (cutely named after his adopted child, Natespop's Blog) that Huckabee's comments about gays and lesbians, particularly regarding adoption, are hurtful.
"Your comments likening my parenting my son to adopting a pet are beyond hurtful and dangerous. My love, passion and commitment to Nate is not one iota different than what you have for John Mark, David and Sarah," writes McDonagh. "Mr. Huckabee, I invite you to spend the evening with us at our home in Chicago next time you come through. You need to understand and see firsthand what a family like ours is like. We are no less a family than yours, and in fact, we are healthier and more stable than most."
Think Huckabee will bite? It would be a chance for him to see up close and personal what nearly every scientific and sociological study has proven: that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as children raised by straight folks.
McDonagh and Smith shouldn't hold their breath though. Huckabee is the same man who once called for people living with AIDS to be quarantined, and still hasn't really apologized for such a District 9-comment. We're guessing that he won't be back-tracking on his gay adoption comments, either, even if it means getting a free dinner from two Chicago caterers.
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How to respond? Well, you could create a Facebook group (Puppies Against Huckabee!). You could be like Whoopi Goldberg, and take Huckabee to task for not understanding that so long as children are raised by loving parents, it doesn't matter whether those parents are gay or straight.
Or you could be like Steve McDonagh and Dan Smith, two Food Network hosts who happen to be partnered and raising an adopted child. What did they do? They invited Mike Huckabee to come to their house in Chicago for dinner, to discover that LGBT families aren't all that different from Huckabee's definition of family.
McDonagh wrote on his blog (cutely named after his adopted child, Natespop's Blog) that Huckabee's comments about gays and lesbians, particularly regarding adoption, are hurtful.
"Your comments likening my parenting my son to adopting a pet are beyond hurtful and dangerous. My love, passion and commitment to Nate is not one iota different than what you have for John Mark, David and Sarah," writes McDonagh. "Mr. Huckabee, I invite you to spend the evening with us at our home in Chicago next time you come through. You need to understand and see firsthand what a family like ours is like. We are no less a family than yours, and in fact, we are healthier and more stable than most."
Think Huckabee will bite? It would be a chance for him to see up close and personal what nearly every scientific and sociological study has proven: that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as children raised by straight folks.
McDonagh and Smith shouldn't hold their breath though. Huckabee is the same man who once called for people living with AIDS to be quarantined, and still hasn't really apologized for such a District 9-comment. We're guessing that he won't be back-tracking on his gay adoption comments, either, even if it means getting a free dinner from two Chicago caterers.
source