Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, fresh from his transvaginal ultrasound pre-abortion mandate battle, now is turning hid attention to marriage equality, gay rights, and the ability to gay parents to properly raise children. McDonnell, as seen in this video below, says that gay parents threaten the ability of their children to achieve the American dream, and that only straight parents can give children the right start in life. McDonnell, whose words sound remarkably like those of Maggie Gallagher, claims that most of the data he’s read from both sides support his false information, bigotry and ignorance.
McDonnell appeared in a Politico sponsored discussion with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who is about to sign his state’s same-sex marriage bill into law.
Igor Volsky at Think Progress reports, “when O’Malley responded by suggesting that the well-being of children informed his own evolution towards marriage equality — ‘we concluded that it was not right and not just that the children of gay parents should homes that are protected in a lesser way under the law than other children,’ he said — McDonnell remained unconvinced, insisting that gays and lesbians make worse parents than heterosexual couples and should thus be the last to adopt children.”
MCDONNELL: Most of the data that I’ve read that the best environment for a child to grow up to be fully capable of achieving the American dream and having the best start at life in an intact two-parent family made up of a man and a woman. I would say that that’s what all the data would suggest…An intact two-parent family is in fact the best for our country. Should be the model, but when it doesn’t work we have safety nets.
Volsky notes:
Indeed, it’s because an “intact two-parent family†is “the best for our country†that gay and lesbian families are seeking recognition under the law. A range of studies, including the the American Psychological Association, have concluded that “beliefs that lesbian and gay adults are not fit parents have no empirical foundation.†In fact, a recent analysis found that the 2 million children who are currently living with LGBT parents are hurt not by the sexual orientation of mom or dad, but the social stigma and legal inequality that people like McDonnell perpetuate.