Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 51

Out of Focus on the Family
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Massachusetts since May 17, 2004, but last Sunday’s Boston Globe (November
28, 2004, sixth months after gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts)
featured the usual number of heterosexuals planning to marry and start
traditional families. In fact, traditional families and nontraditional ones in
Massachusetts and elsewhere across the nation seem totally unaffected by the
existence of legal gay marriage. Moreover, as Andrew Sullivan noted in
Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality, “The distinction between
‘families’ and ‘homosexuals’ is . . . empirically false; and the stability of
existing [traditional] families is closely linked to how homosexuals are treated
within them” (104). Most gay men and lesbian women are the product of
traditional families, many of which were tom apart by misplaced shame inspired
by faith-based intolerance. Legal gay marriage would do much to destigmatize
homosexuality and, therefore, may actually help save some future traditional
families.
All parents want their children to be happy and live full, productive
lives. Being homosexual is a difficult road made more difficult by the dogmatic
rhetoric of Dobson and other ideologues. It has tom families apart more than a
few times. Those traditional families that have survived put their love for each
other above religious dogma. Those that thought religious dogma more
important often lost their families and destroyed what they said they were trying
to protect, as was illustrated by the Fields family in Georgia. From
Advocate.com, October 29, 2004:
Tess Fields, the lesbian daughter of Georgia Christian
Coalition leader Sadie Fields, is speaking out against her
mother’s campaign to amend the Georgia state constitution to
ban same-sex marriage. Just days before Tuesday’s
referendum, Tess Fields sent a letter to The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution’s editorial page, criticizing what she called her
mother’s “bigotry” and “abject hostility toward gay and
lesbian people.” . . .
Sadie Fields said her daughter’s sexuality and their strained
relationship is deeply painful for her. The Christian Coalition
leader . . . said that she loves her daughter and prays for her
daily. “I would give my life for her, but I can’t affirm her in
her choices,” she said. Sadie Fields said she would continue to
support the proposed amendment because she says it’s the
right thing to do. “The amendment issue is larger than just one
relationship,” Sadie Fields said. “It’s not just about me and my
daughter. It’s about the future of this country.”