As we have witnessed in the State of the Union address Wednesday night and the agenda of new Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling, President Bush's ongoing insult to American families has not only been a slap in the face to LGBT individuals and families, but more so to
on-traditional"" families as well.
The premise for his divisive amendment is to protect ""western"" values that marriage is between a man and a woman. Furthermore, his administration asserts that a child needs a mother and a father in order to be properly raised in our society. This stands as an insult to those who were raised by single parents, those who are raised by grandparents and other relatives, other adults and those who are raised collaboratively by those around them.
Human development-and in particular American human development-is not contingent on a child having a mother and a father, but rather a child being in a loving, nurturing and stable environment. That may be with a mother and mother, a father and grandmother, mother and father, foster parent, mother and mentor, etc. What matters most is that there are multiple influences in the child's life-not an archaic representation of nuclear familyhood that makes so many of America's young people feel inadequate. Let's hope that health care is what our administration addresses before finding more ways to make American children feel as if they cannot live within an arbitrary standard.""
