When bigots search wildly for a "rationale" to deny same sex couples basic human rights they usually claim that children need both a mother and a father to succeed.

My father died when I was very young leaving my mother single and needing to care for four children. She never remarried. Of the four children in our family two have grown up to be medical doctors, one is a college professor, and the youngest will soon have a PhD. We are all in healthy, long-term relationships and my mother now has grandchildren. Both of the male children (of which I am one) are rather stereotypical guys. We somehow managed to figure out what being a guy was without a father at home explaining it to us. It's almost like there are other sources for this information.

So, on behalf of the offspring of single mothers I want to say fuck you to people who say I can't be healthy because I was raised without a father. It's important to note that there is one factor that confounds the bullshit bigots use to malign single parents, nontraditional families, etc. Single parent families are highly correlated with poverty. For this reason, we were lucky. My mother is a medical doctor who was able to provide for a five person family by herself. So I am aware that my experiences are not typical, but they do speak to the arguments that "every child needs a mother and a father" to succeed and be healthy. We can succeed just fine.

Kyle

P.S. I am aware that this isn't the most important point. But this argument about needing a mother and a father is a slap to my mother's face. And it pisses me off every time I see it.