The Gay "Right" To Parenthood

April 03, 2007

The Gay "Right" To Parenthood

A baby-making-and-selling clinic in LA has just launched "the first dedicated program for gay men wanting to become parents."

According to the article, the clinic says that it is "responding to huge demand from gay male couples around the world who want their own biological children but are often thwarted by prejudice and bureaucracy."

Ah, of COURSE...it's societal discrimination that prevents gay couples from having children!

Not to mention that ever-present, natural and maddeningly non-partisan obstacle: biology.

Well hey, if you're going to go the extra mile and buy a baby for $60,000 (the average cost at the clinic), why not choose the sex? "three-quarters of gay couples pay extra to choose the sex of their baby"(over 60% want boys). And why not choose the hair color and eye color? Wouldn't want baby to clash with the accessories. What about choosing the temperament and intelligence? Wouldn't want a baby that's too demanding and hampers the lifestyle. All the choices are available as the purchasing prospective parents sift through donor attributes.

So you see, when preparing to have a donor baby, there are so many things to mull over and worry about that are much more important than whether your future baby will have a mommy or not. After all, mommies are so passe and culturally imposed upon us. They don't really contribute anything irreplaceable or special, either because of their biological relationship or because of their gender - and neither do daddies. Everyone is replaceable and interchangeable, because all that matters is love, love, love...like in that song by the Beatles. It doesn't matter who loves you, as long as someone does.

And if you say anything else, then you're just plain being mean and discriminatory to those who can't produce their own children.

Notice for those who don't want to wear the big yellow star labelled "bigot and homophobe": better get on the bandwagon and support the elimination of children's fundamental human rights to know and be raised by both of their natural, biological parents.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: No, you're not a bigot and a homophone because you support "children's fundamental human rights to know and be raised by both of their natural, biological parents". You're a bigot and a homophobe because you imply that gays who want to have children are narcissistic and concerned only about hampering their lifestyle. That's absurd. Believe me, there are far more convenient fashion accessories.

I really don't know how you avoid choking on your own bile. I can only assume that you are bathed in the smugness of having personally reproduced the "correct" way and thus motivated to pass judgment upon all who, for whatever reason, cannot do as you did.

What an ugly, arrogant thing is this blog.; April 03, 2007
Anonymous said...: The worst part of it all is that you link to several blogs of people who have struggled with infertility... why? So you can send people to go harass them?

Are you infertile? You say you know that infertility is tragic, but *how* do you know that? So, uh, because a man has cancer treatment that destroys his chance to have biological children, he should, what, suffer the rest of his life? And the woman he loves, who is physically able to bear children, she should suffer too? Perhaps God "meant" for him to have cancer, and he never should have sought treatment in the first place...

Cleary, such a couple shouldn't adopt- for that would mean raising a "biological stranger."

It must be nice to have everything so figured out. You're doing a lot of great work here. My only solace is that from the looks of it, your traffic is low. Thank God.; April 04, 2007
MomEtc. said...: This blog is nothing but thinly veiled homophobia.

Shame on you! I don't believe for one second that you are really so concerned for children.; July 04, 2007
Anonymous said...: Oh dear oh dear anonymouses and
mometc. The truth hurts doesn't it?

Let me ask *you*: Have you any idea what it's like to be the child of donor-conception? Have you any idea what it's like to know that your father abandoned you without a second though, and that you will never know him?

And, no, anonymous, Veronica is not being homophobic in any way. The idea that children are a "lifestyle choice", or a "fashion accessory" is not unique to homosexuals. It's a sorry consequence of societies refusal to acknowledge the importance of parents.

Unfortunately it is hard to feel you'll never have your own children. You're sadly deluded if you think it's easier being a child of donor conception.

Veronica again is perfectly understanding and accurate.

-- Tom; July 13, 2007

Stop the Baby Trade

Yes, it is a baby trade, like the slave trade of old. Babies have become consumer products, accessories to our lifestyles. They are like pets, those cute and cuddly babies. And like pets, they can be made to your liking. Just buy the sperm at your nearest sperm bank, purchase an egg from your local egg dealer, and rent a surrogate womb. And in 9 months, bring home a baby without a pregnancy, without even a dent in your schedule!

There is supply and there is demand. Babies are disposable: their value and worth depend on being "wanted". As embryos they can receive a life or death sentence based on a screening of their genetic traits. They can be frozen indefinitely, donated for research or simply killed. In the womb they can be "selectively reduced". They belong to whomever they were "intended" for.

Apparently, adults have a "right" to a baby. And before they are born, babies have no rights at all. They can be bought and sold, or traded from person to person.

Even after they are born, some of their natural rights are not recognized or respected. They had better not complain about not having their "natural" or biological parents. If they mind, they are ungrateful. After all, we cuddle them and spoil them and shower them with love - just like our pets.

Well, it's time to stop the baby trade. Infertility is tragic. So is being panhandled by your own genetic parents and being raised by biological strangers. So is being created in a laboratory only to be frozen as "surplus" or screened out and left to die because you are "unwanted".

Children have not consented to these things. Their own parents, their supposed protectors, have allowed these things to happen to them. Adults have selfishly allowed their reproductive urges to trample on the fundamental rights and needs of their own children. But now, as many of these children come of age and we hear their cries of pain, it is time to admit that what reproductive technologies have given to parents, they have also taken away from children.

Sometimes doing the right thing requires a lot of sacrifice. This is one of those times. We need to set aside our adult desires in order to protect children's rights. Let's see babies as human beings who are our equals. Let’s admit that we have no right to harm others to get what we want. Let’s stand up for those who don’t have a signature line on the consent forms, yet who will be forever affected by the decisions taken.

We will find that by protecting the weakest, we are also protecting ourselves. The rights of children are tied to the rights of adults. Children have a right to their own parents; and those parents also have a natural right to know and to educate their own biological children. These natural rights cannot be eliminated, only violated.

Let’s stand up for the natural human rights of children: their right to life from the moment of conception, their right to be carried in the womb of their own biological mother, and their right to know and be raised by their own biological parents.