Dearest Douchebag

I was reading an op-ed piece about the dangers of same-sex parenting in today’s Courier Mail (click here), and I thought, there’s no better time for another open letter, this time, to David van Gend, a Toowoomba GP and a committee member of the Family Council of Queensland.

To catch you up, here’s a choice quotation from his article:

Gays are not second-class citizens but a gay man certainly makes a second-class mother. Two lesbian women may be model citizens, but neither of them can be a dad to a little boy. The most serious objection to gay marriage is that it means gay parenting, and gay parenting means depriving a child of either his mother or his father.

Dear David,

Firstly, ‘gay’ is not a noun. ‘Moron’, ‘bigot’, ‘ignoramus’, they’re nouns.

Secondly, sexuality does not equip someone with the skills needed to be a good parent. The closest thing my (straight) father did to parenting was avoid paying Child Support and not call on Christmas, teaching me the importance of being self-reliant and never trusting anyone. I was raised by two women, my mother and my grandmother, who, between them, kept me in school, kept me clothed, kept me fed, and you know what? I think I came out pretty darn fantastic. Yes, I have my quirks (who doesn’t?), and yes, I was deprived of a father, but you know what? The father I was deprived of? Not so great.

If you have two parents, be they opposite genders, or ‘gays’, and they love and support you, and they nurture you, then you know what? That’s what matters in the end. See, the funny thing is, my two female parents, they taught me to respect, and embrace, difference. My male parent taught me to hide my money in my new wife’s name so that I can avoid my parental obligations.

Kind Regards,

William