Why We Must Keep Up The Fight.
Thanks to legal same-sex marriage in MA, and marriage in CA that hopefully will remain legal despite efforts to eradicate our rights in November, gay teens are beginning to look to a future that includes marriage and families.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For Joe, a 16-year-old high school student, marriage and family are definites. He plans on being in a monogamous relationship and wants to have several children, most likely by adopting. Joe, who is gay, believes these goals are attainable.
Twenty years ago, teenagers like Joe may not have thought about marriage and children. Twenty years ago most families looked the same: A mother and father — or single parent — and children. But the face of the family is changing; more children are growing up with two mothers or two fathers today, and a recently released study shows the numbers are going to continue to grow.
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Researchers interviewed 133 young gay people from the New York City area between the ages of 16 and 22. More than 90 percent of females and more than 80 percent of males expect to be partnered in a monogamous relationship after age 30. Two-thirds of females and more than half of males expressed likelihood they would raise children in the future.“Traditionally, gay and lesbian people have not been brought up to think about marriage,” said study co-author Dr. Anthony R. D’Augelli, a professor of human development at Pennsylvania State University. “We wondered if this was something young gay people might relate to whatsoever.”
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Surprise, surprise. Gay people want the same thing straight people do. They want to marry and have families. Sadly the “pro-family” faction is doing everything it can to stop us from doing so claiming they have the right to dictate to everyone what constitutes a marriage and a family. So gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals are left with unfulfilled dreams, and families are either broken or never created.
This is why we must keep up the fight to defeat Proposition 8, Proposition 102,Amendment 2 and every other anti-gay bill they throw our way. It’s not just for us. It’s for teens like Joe and the families they hope to have one day. It’s for all of us.
