Parenting: Living The Dream!

In Britain commercial surrogacy is illegal, but in America gay dads – and their baby mamas – are becoming the new normal

The Fraley Selfs are a very modern couple. For a start, all told, they’ve been married on three separate occasions – each time to each other.
They first exchanged vows on the island of St Barts, in the French West Indies, in 2008, and again in South Africa on their honeymoon. Then, in 2011, Chris and Victor became the first gay men to legally wed in the town of Rye, in New York State.
Today they live in Los Angeles, in a house with a view of the Hollywood sign, not far from Larchmont Boulevard, the West Coast’s answer to Notting Hill. Their living room speaks to their contemporary family: a large brooding Impressionist painting looms over lots of cuddly toys and a pink, knee-high toy piano. Two dogs – feisty shih tzus with bows in their hair – scurry and yap. And on one of several elegant sofas, in between Chris and Victor, sits Kira Sanders, the surrogate who, thanks to a process that began with a Google search, bore their two daughters, three-year-old Coco and her nine-month-old sister, Kiki...

The Sunday Times.

Oh, the dream.
The impossible dream.
To be super rich, gaymarried, live in Hollywood, and have children.
Imagine!
Gee, I'd love a gayby and to get my teeth-whitened regularly so they look like dentures then I guess everything would be okay.
Yes?

PS That's another couple in the photo there, but from the same Sunday Times article - so don't write in...

Parenting: I Love My Gay Son (Obviously)

A Conservative MP has claimed "most parents" don't want their children to be gay. How can he possibly know? How many has he asked? Certainly not me; if he had, I'd have told him I like having a gay son so much I think everyone should have one.
David Davies's presumption that he knows what I feel about my child is startling. Here's what I feel about my son: I love him. I respect and admire him and think he's one of the funniest people I know. I regard his sexuality as about as important as being left-handed: it's a bit different, it affects his life, it's moderately interesting; but it's a very long way from defining him.
I'm not saying having a gay son is better than having a straight one – I've got a couple of those and very nice they are too – but I refuse to accept Mr Davies's proposition that it's worse. I can't see any of my children as lesser than the others. Parents value their children for all sorts of qualities – quite often, on a day-to-day basis, to do with how much washing up they do – and their sexuality is rarely the most pressing.
Davies's assertion was meant as a contribution to the marriage debate, although it's hard to see how he thought it was relevant because gay marriage doesn't produce gay children. It's heterosexual marriage that does that. If you don't want gay children, that's the one you should get rid of...

Geraldine Bedell writing for The Guardian's Comment Is Free. 

Lovely.
Hooray for mums.

Glee: Kissing Boys

“Mommy, they are just like me.”

My oldest son is six years old and in love for the first time. He is in love with Blaine from Glee.

For those who don’t know Blaine is a boy… a gay boy, the boyfriend of one of the main characters, Kurt.

This isn’t a ‘he thinks Blaine is really cool’ kind of love. It is a mooning at a picture of Blaine’s face for a half hour followed by a wistful “He’s so pretty” kind of love.

He loves the episode where two boys kiss. My son will call people in from other parts of the house to make sure they don’t miss his ‘favorite part.’ He’s been known to rewind it and watch it over again…and force other to, as well, if he doesn’t think people have been paying enough attention.

This infatuation doesn’t bother me or his father. We live in a very hip-liberal neighborhood, many of our friends are gay, and idea of having a gay son isn’t something that bothers either of us. Our son is going to be who he is, and it is our job to love him. End of story.

He is also six. Six year olds get obsessed with all kinds of things. This might not mean anything at all. We always joke that he’s either gay, or we have the best blackmail material in the history of mankind when he’s a 16 year old straight boy. (Take that naked bath time pictures!)

Then the other day we were traveling across the state listening to the Warblers album (of course), and in the middle of Candles, my son pipes up from the back seat.

“Mommy, Kurt and Blaine are boyfriends.”

“Yes, they are,” I affirm.

“They don’t like kissing girls. They just kiss boys.”

“That’s true.”

“Mommy, they are just like me.”

“That’s great, baby. You know I love you no matter what?”

“I know…” I could hear him rolling his eyes at me.

When we got home I recapped this conversation to his Dad, and we stood simply looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. Then we smiled.

“So if at 16 he wants to make a big announcement at the dinner table, we can say ‘You told us when you were six. Pass the carrots’ and he’ll be disappointed we stole his big dramatic moment,” my husband says with a laugh and hugs me.

Only time will tell if my son is gay, but if he is I am glad he’s mine. I am glad he has been born into our family. A family full of people who will love and accept him. People who will never want him to change. With parents who will look forward to dancing at his wedding.

And I have to admit, Blaine would be a really cute son-in-law.

From the Tumblr, Getstooobsessed.
Which swiftly went viral...
(And, yes, it appears to be genuine).