The California Supreme Court passed down three rulings yesterday upholding the legal status of gay non-biological parents. Or, “lesbians who agree to raise children borne by their partners can be considered legal parents after their relationship ends with the biological motherâ€.
I feel a little weird talking about this being a good thing, because it doesn’t seem so much like this was positive action, but that instead it would have been ludicrous and completely backasswards for them to have decided otherwise. But then there’s this guy:
“Today’s ruling defies logic and common sense,†said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, which intervened in the state Supreme Court cases. “By saying that children can have two moms, the court has undermined the family.â€
WHAT??? First off, I don’t think you’re allowed to keep the name “Liberty Counsel†if you’re going to talk like that; second, is he seriously saying that it’s better for “the family†for children of gay couples (or former couples) to have only one parent?
I noticed this in the news this morning, and, although I haven’t had time to examine the story closely, I think the “logic and common sense†in the quote refers to the conventional wisdom that the best environment for children is one in which they have a mother and a father, rather than two mothers or two fathers (my sense is that there’s concern about how living with parents of the same gender affects child development, as well as the issue of stigma). Some sociological studies have challenged this idea, but I believe at this point the issue remains a legitimate area of debate among experts (if I’m wrong about this, please correct me). That said, it’s hard for me to argue that children are better served in a household with one parent, rather than two (regardless of gender), if for no other reason than the economic one.
Oh, according to the Liberty Counsel Web site, the group “provides pro bono legal assistance in the areas of religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.†So, I guess technically one-third of the group’s agenda actually involves liberty, with the rest dedicated to two overserved topics I’m sick of hearing about.