November 18, 2010

63% of Americans define the term "family" to include a gay couple living with at least one child.

According to a new Pew survey.

When I read that I thought...
I'm surprised so many people think that.
I'm surprised so few people think that.
Sounds about right.
  
pollcode.com free polls
Posted by Ann Althouse at 8:28 AM
Tags: , , ,

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, yes, the much touted horror of "homophobia" (whatever the hell that is supposed to be) doesn't exist.

We all know that.

People who are pushing a political agenda invented the homophobia hysteria as a way to glom onto the black civil rights language.

And now, Ann, why do you keep carrying on so much about something that affects... what... 1% of the population?

What is it about the academic environment that makes people obsess so much about homosexuality?

What are we to make of the leftist obsession with homosexuality?

11/18/10, 8:34 AM
tim maguire said...

"63% of Americans define the term "family" to include a gay couple lving with at least one child."

At the moment, 63% voted "sounds about right." That's a pleasing result, I hope it holds. I was surprised the number has climbed so high already, I wouldn't have thought enough of the bigots had died yet.

11/18/10, 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...

At the moment, 63% voted "sounds about right." That's a pleasing result, I hope it holds. I was surprised the number has climbed so high already, I wouldn't have thought enough of the bigots had died yet.

tim maguire, you are a fucking moron.

11/18/10, 8:41 AM
TWM said...

"I wouldn't have thought enough of the bigots had died yet."

Or maybe there weren't as many as you believed.

Of course a family can be more than a married couple and 1.5 children, so marriage doesn't automatically come into play when asked to define that word.

11/18/10, 8:41 AM
Anonymous said...

OK, let's turn this post to a worthwhile subject.

The real purpose of Bigot-O-Mania is to give shitheads like tim maguire the opportunity to put on their halos, preen and call other people "bigots."

And for some reason, fuckheads like tim maguire think that this reflects favorably on them.

What the fuck? When will Bigot-O-Mania die? When will chumps like tim maguire stop making asses out of themselves?

11/18/10, 8:43 AM
Anonymous said...

And, now I exist today's edition of Bigot-O-Mania.

Ann, you just can't get enough of this bullshit, can you?

11/18/10, 8:44 AM
Michael said...

We know a gay couple in our neighborhood who have a new son. The child was fathered by a surrogate with the sperm of one of the men. Should this couple decide to split up, divorce as it were, who do you suppose will end up with the child? Do you think this could already be in writing? Is this a normal "family?"

11/18/10, 8:55 AM
ricpic said...

Know this horrible homosexual mafia: you can terrorize ordinary heterosexual normals, what you call straights, into silence, you can even make them mouth the words you need to hear, but you will NEVER be accepted as part of the family, because you're not, you are ABNORMAL and your endless assaults on normality won't change that fact.

11/18/10, 9:06 AM
Triangle Man said...

Is this a normal "family?"

The point is that it is a family. Who are you do decide what "normal" is for someone else?

11/18/10, 9:08 AM
Fen said...

Well, we already know that black males growing up in a fatherless household are crippled by it.

I don't have any issue with same-sex couples raising children, but I do wonder if damages the child.

Can a gay man replicate the archetype of a loving mother? And is that even necessary? I think it is, but I'm open to argument.

11/18/10, 9:21 AM
sunsong said...

"Americans are focusing less on the structure of family per se and instead they're focusing on the functions or purpose of family," he says. "Think about what families do. Families take care of each other. Families help each other out. They love each other. As long as Americans have a signal out there that a living arrangement is doing those types of tasks, then they're willing to accept the idea that these are families."

This is neat. I am happy to see that so many Americans are defining their own terms. To me that is part of taking responsibility and taking one's power back - whether from governmnent, education, religious authorities or what have you.

Family is what you believe it is and what you want it to be. What is important, imo, is that you have one and that you love each other.

When counted, there is significant wisdom in the American public - fiercely independent and yet caring and giving.

11/18/10, 9:46 AM
Fen said...

Family is what you believe it is and what you want it to be.

"The Pink Tribe is all about feeling good: feeling good about yourself! Sexually, emotionally, artistically – nothing is off limits, nothing is forbidden, convention is fossilized insanity and everybody gets to do their own thing without regard to consequences, reality, or natural law. We all have our own reality – one small personal reality is called “science,” say – and we Make Our Own Luck and we Visualize Good Things and There Are No Coincidences and Everything Happens for a Reason and You Can Be Whatever You Want to Be and we all have Special Psychic Powers and if something Bad should happen it’s because Someone Bad Made It Happen. A Spell, perhaps.

The Pink Tribe motto, in fact, is the ultimate Zen Koan, the sound of one hand clapping: EVERYBODY IS SPECIAL."

http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2009/10/07/tribes-2/

11/18/10, 9:52 AM
Scott M said...

Sunsong,

What if I define family to include myself, two or three wives, and all our children? Does that count as well?

11/18/10, 9:59 AM
TWM said...

"What if I define family to include myself, two or three wives, and all our children? Does that count as well?"

You can define it however you like . . . but not everyone is going to agree with you.

11/18/10, 10:06 AM
jungatheart said...

@tm: the bigots didn't die, but were mugged by reality. When your kid comes out, he's still your kid and life goes on.

11/18/10, 10:10 AM
jungatheart said...

Michael, when you look at how the justice system is skewed toward the female in a divorce situation, your question is a bit silly.

11/18/10, 10:13 AM
jungatheart said...

Fen:
"Can a gay man replicate the archetype of a loving mother? And is that even necessary? I think it is, but I'm open to argument."

I'm guessing that it has to do with relativity. Like if all the kids around you are poor and no one has an X Box (because they haven't been invented), you're not really poor or different. But if everyone has one, you feel really left out. And it's not because you're poor, it's because your mom thinks video games are mind sapping. But later your mom kind of regrets it. Ya know?

11/18/10, 10:23 AM
sunsong said...

ScottM,

What if I define family to include myself, two or three wives, and all our children? Does that count as well?

It counts for you, right? I include my two cats as part of my family. It doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks of that.

I don't have the time today to get involved with a bunch of posts. My view is that people defining their own terms is a good thing - an empowering thing. I think that is a necessary step in growth. It doesn't mean that that is the end result - or that there are no issues where I may want to join with others in defining terms - something that we all agree on. Things are not black and white, imo.

But I think that allowing institutions to define things for you is a mistake. And something as important as *family*, I am pleased to see that so many Americans are defining that word and that concept themselves.

11/18/10, 10:37 AM
Scott M said...

I agree with you, Sun, excepting the institution part. As much as I'm not a fan of it, in order to function in modern society, you have to be able to fill out forms. Forms generally are, well, forms. They tend to pigeon-hole people. Sucks, but there it is.

11/18/10, 10:39 AM
prairie wind said...

The clarion cry from the gay community has been that being gay is not a choice. After all, who would choose to live their life bullied and despised? We've all heard that argument. But now that gays and lesbians are accepted by that 63% and every TV show has at least one gay character and we are all forbidden to think homosexuality is abnormal... when gay goes mainstream, THEN will people make a choice to be gay? When does homosexuality become just another sexual alternative? Or has it been that way all along?

11/18/10, 10:44 AM
Anonymous said...

I have my reservations about gay couples parenting (although I support gay marriage), but I would still consider them a family.

The question didn't ask if it was a family that you think are doing things rightly or should be a family - there are a lot of people in household circumstances that I don't agree with (far more strongly than my concerns with gay parenting), but are still families.

11/18/10, 11:10 AM
Unknown said...

There should be a fourth option:

Where did they ask this, Sausalito?

This is one of the establishment, lefty-center polling firms, after all.

PS No, I don't buy it for a second. This is propaganda.

11/18/10, 11:24 AM
bagoh20 said...

"I wouldn't have thought enough of the bigots had died yet. "

Bigot: "A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own..." (Wiki)

Apparently, at least one is still around and has a keyboard.

11/18/10, 12:05 PM
bagoh20 said...

I don't care about gays, but if you don't have a dog, you don't have a family.

11/18/10, 12:06 PM
Joe said...

"86% say a single parent and child are a family.

80% say an unmarried couple living together with a child is a family."

If neither of these are families, then the word has no meaning. This tells me that 14-20% of Americans are deranged beyond recognition.

11/18/10, 12:24 PM
pdug said...

if a single parent and child are a family (and it is), but a 'broken family", then a gay couple raising the child of one biological child is also a family, because you can count is as a special case of single parenthood.

Someone who denies the reality and rightness of gay marriage would recognize the natural biological relationship. In fact, a focus on that is what makes them disdain the gay couple's status claim.

11/18/10, 12:57 PM
Michael said...

Deborah: "Michael, when you look at how the justice system is skewed toward the female in a divorce situation, your question is a bit silly."

Silly in what way, Deborah? there is no female involved yet there must be one of the pair devoted to the female "role" if I may be so bold as to say. As it happens that person in the couple I reference is not the provider of the sperm. Do you think that the provider is going to let his own flesh and blood go to his "partner" whose flesh and blood it is not?

11/18/10, 1:56 PM
DaveW said...

I don't care about gays, but if you don't have a dog, you don't have a family.

Word.

11/18/10, 4:52 PM
jungatheart said...

Sorry, it wasn't a silly question.

Usually, DNA trumps in a custody case, I would imagine. Did they sign an agreement? If so, it probably would not hold up in court if the biological parent wanted custody.

This business about can a male supply mothering is pretty silly, because what he is supplying is nurturing. There are a boatload of bad mothers out there. There is a broad variety of family arrangements. The old way is gone, for the most part. As a society we need to try and support all families as best we can. Single moms, single dads, gay, straight, whatever.

11/18/10, 7:54 PM

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