| Children Speak Out |
| "It doesnt' matter what kids have--fathers, mothers, or both--they just need love and support. It doesn't matter if you are raised by a pack of dogs, just as long as they love you! It's about time lesbians and gays can have children. It's everybody's right as a human being." -Laura Marie Sebastian,18 |
| [on the subject of her mother's lover] "To me she is a sister, mother, a guiding light and someone I can go to whenever I need to. She has become a very important part of my life." -Lisa Perry, 21 |
| "But I think you get more love with two moms. I know other kids have a mom and a dad, but I think that moms give more love than dads. This may not be true, but it's what I think." -Annie, 10 |
| "We talked about it and she [mom] asked me what I thought being gay meant, and I said it's like you have two mothers or two fathers instead of a mother and father. From then on I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, because if this person I really admired was gay--my mother!--then it must be okay. I know that my father knows that my mother is gay. Once when we kids were in the car and he was mad, he said, 'When you get older I'm going to tell you something that will make you want to move in with me right away!' He doesn't realize that we love our mother no matter what she is called or labeled. He is always putting gays down...I think he is trying to make us think being gay is bad and turn us against our mother. But it's not working. I think he's immature. If he can't accept that other people are differnt from him, then he is really stupid. I'm thirteen and I can accept it--and I could accept it when I was six. And he is thirty-six and he can't accept it? Well, it makes me wonder about his brains." -Tessa, 13 |
| "I think that if you are a child of a gay or lesbian, you have a better chance of having a great parent. If you are a lesbian, you have to go through a lot of trouble to get a child, so that child is really wanted." -Carl E. Cade, 12 |
| "From observing my mother's experiences with prejudice because of her lifestyle, I have learned that prejudice and stereotypes are useless in life." -Randi Levy, 18 |
| "I have two mothers and other kids don't. I feel different. I dont' tell most of my friends I have two mothers, but the ones that know think it's nice. I don't tell other kids at school about my mothers because I think they would be jealous of me. Two mothers is better than one. I feel kind of good and kind of bad about not having a dad. I don't have to listen to lots of orders from any dad, and I know my real dad was always drunk. I had another dad for a while, and he hit me all the time. I don't care if I have a mother and a father or a mother and a co-mother; I just want there to be two people. It's more fun with two." -Sara B., 6 |
| From Different Mothers: Sons and Daughters of Lesbians Talk About Their Lives, Edited by Louise Rafkin (18). |
| "I have learned so many diverse lessons from the way I grew up. I have learned to value humor and communication, and to believe that with these tools and my intelligence I can do anything. I was always told I was smart and special. Lesbians encouraged me to be proud and female." -Kyneret Hope, 25 |
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| "Some people think you need a father or a man around to help with the tough stuff, like the lawn and other things like that. I think it depends on what kind of job needs doing. I think anybody can do anything they want. Even if there were only mothers in the world, I think things would get done anyway. In fact, we just painted the house, my mom and Cindy [his mom's lover] and me." -Bob, 10 |