In yet another example of anti-gay tunnel vision, NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, displaying a complete lack of understanding of the nature of same-sex headed households, links to and quotes a fatally-flawed op-ed that suggests children parented by gay couples will not get “child care, groceries, health care, home maintenance, household products, insurance and juvenile products,” nor will these children of gay or lesbian couples be “acquiring the skills and social capital they need to become well-adjusted, productive workers.”
NOM posted an excerpt — four short paragraphs — of a ludicrous anti-gay op-ed penned by a Republican Minnesota state legislator, Steve Drazkowski. (Let’s pause of a moment and think of all the anti-gay news that’s come out of Minnesota, starting with Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, and the high student suicide contagion rate in the schools in her district, the recent “license to bully” legislation in their not anti-bullying but pro-bullying bill, and take it from there.)
Representative Steve Drazkowski’s supercilious analogy says that “eight of the top 10 ‘best states for business.’ according to a survey of 556 CEO’s by Chief Executive Magazine. have a state marriage amendment in their constitution. [sic]” Well, since only six states/jurisdictions support same-sex marriage, and 31 states have some form of legal ban on marriage equality, saying eight of the top ten states ban marriage equality is like shooting fish in a barrel; you’re bound to hit a good number, and 80% is about right. Heck, you could also argue that eight of the top ten best states for business also have an average temperature of at least 70 degrees.
Here’s the money quote of the ludicrous insinuation:
“Children, raised in married, mother-father families play a huge factor in the health of the economy because they consume many services and goods, especially in child care, groceries, health care, home maintenance, household products, insurance and juvenile products.”
So, children raised by gays don’t get those vital necessities, apparently.
Never mind that gay parents generally adopt, and so are scrutinized and monitored far more than their heterosexual counterparts.
Of course gay couples provide for their children, at least as well as straight couples do, and, again, if they’ve adopted, probably better. Anyone who has been through the adoption process knows there are standards that have to be met, and rightly so, as long as those standards aren’t one man-one woman marriage.
Drazkowski, by the way, is quoting from a May, 2011 article in Chief Executive magazine that has absolutely nothing to do with same-sex marriage or same-sex parenting.
Drazkowski also writes of a report that “emphasized that children, raised in married, mother-father families, have an advantage when it comes to acquiring the skills and social capital they need to become well-adjusted, productive workers.”
Seriously, what are NOM and Rep. Drazkowski thinking? Oh, right, they’re not.
Well, folks, here’s a lesson for you. When NOM’s Maggie, John, Bryan, and their anti-gay ilk, like Rep. Drazkowski, say things like, “studies show that kids need a mom and a dad to be happy/successful/healthy, etc.,” what they’re not telling you is that the studies don’t offer the option of same-sex parents in their analysis, nor do these studies, like the one Rep. Drazkowski, which you can access here, even mention the word “gay” or “homosexual.”
But what is also troubling is that Rep. Drazkowski ignores study after study that proves that marriage equality brings millions of dollars into a state, and states that do not offer same-sex marriage but are near states that do lose millions of dollars a year. It’s very simple. Offer more people the opportunity to maker their relationships legal and they will have weddings. Weddings bring the state and businesses millions of dollars. Seriously, anyone who has ever paid for a wedding will agree with this simple yet expensive economic reality.
Drazkowski also writes, “According to a new study by the Social Trends Institute, marriage and family have a tremendous effect on the economy – and government and corporations should take bold steps to encourage each if they want to remain economically fit.” In this we agree, and believe that extending marriage to same-sex couples will only serve to strengthen the economy, and, more importantly — though Rep. Drazkowski doesn’t seem to care about this — the lives of millions of children already being raised by gay and lesbian couples.
Let’s be very clear here: Same-sex couples, gay and lesbian couples who parent children are at least as good as — and some studies show, better than — their heterosexual counterparts. There is not a single valid study that proves that gays make bad parents. Period.
But perhaps NOM would like to try this statistic on for size: states that offer marriage equality have the lowest rate of child homelessness.