Are Gays "Anti-Family?" Why or Why Not?

[MamaBee]

Again, too costly to create an ad for each different kind of family...they make one for "Joe American".

[ryneone]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

The problem is that the idea of a "typical American" has become very blurred with each successive generation to the point where we now have interracial marriages, blended families, a 50% heterosexual divorce rate, a growing divide between rural/suburban/urban, multi-lingual labeling, etc. The "typical" conservative Christian males wearing a sweater and sitting at a dinner table flanked by a beautiful wife, three children passing food around the table, and even a golden retriever nearby are rapidly disappearing.

You are right. The era of the 50's typical american is out the window. Look im gay and have no desire to have kids and create a family in that sense. I have found someone that I want to live with maybe forever. But i know of plenty of heterosexual couples that also have chose not to have children.

[Magnulus]

It's not specificly anti-gay. This family values crap appeals to a certain subset of the population, a rather LARGE subset that exists in many states (esp. red and swing states), that doesn't particularly trust anybody that doesn't live like them. These people are the opposite of bohemians in their tastes and politics, not at all worldly, more parochial. Conventional, boring, suspicious of anything "new" and, dare I say it, bitter just like Barak said?

If I had to draw a mental picture of the "typical" home life of the non-geritol set, non-minority, it would be some dude and his live-in girlfriend sitting around a table in a small kitchen. They have 1 or no kids, no dog, maybe a cat. They don't live in a big house, they live in an apartment. Both are overeducated and went to college but have less to show for it than their parents, in fact his girlfriend makes more money than he does, and he doesn't have a professional job. That's more typical than this "family values" garbage.

[skytrekker]

This is silly mere right wing propaganda. I had a straight uncle- who throughout his 55 years of marriage cheated on his wife from nearly day one on every opportunity he had. The only reason the couple stayed married was because his wife was rich and his meal ticket. This man looked down on gays, blacks, Jews, Women (obviously) Latino and Asians.

I had a cousin who was married for 2 years and was quickly divorced. I know of gay and lesbian couples together for decades- I know gay and lesbian children who take care of their aging parents, where most straights put them away in homes. Talk to me about 'family values' please... anyone who says the gay and lesbian people have none or less is a fallacy.

[KevK]

The Republicans will not doubt revert to bashing gays in November- as they always do. But only between tapping their feet in airport bathrooms, picking up call girls, dumping their own wives when they get ill and picking up a new blonde! Just who you want to hear about family values from.

[denverian]

When I hear anyone talking about their "traditional family values", I, as a gay man, hear "anti-gay". That's exactly what's meant by it, for sure.

The whole "gays are a threat to the American family" is nothing more than a line used by the far right to scare people into voting Republican. You have to be pretty ignorant to think gay people are trying to recruit children, destroy heterosexuality, and end marriage.

[camping!]

Hmmm, well to address the specific commericials you saw.....I don't think that is gay bashing. In fact, it never occurred to me. I have always seen ads that feature Joe/Jane Politician, his/her doting spouse and 3.2 kids merely as a way to 'humanize' him/her.....much like kissing babies at rallies. Nothing more.

[MamaBee]

Exactly camping, I think people are reading too much into it.

[Lakewooder]

Most gays have families -- unless their families have rejected them.