Over the Rainbow: - Wrestling With Angels

Rights in Conflict (Blankenhorn, 2007:183-199)
Gay activists want society to adopt a flexible definition of the right to marry and form a
family. They embrace the idea that “Adults have the right to marry the person they choose
and form the families they choose.” Michael Ignatieff, a human rights scholar, endorses the
“the rights revolution in private life” as simply an outgrowth of the idea of equality and
freedom.
David Blankenhorn, a family scholar and founder of the Institute for American Values,
contends that changing marriage radically changes parenthood. He argues that in community
the rights of one group often exist in tension with the rights of others, and the ‘right to form
the family I choose’ bumps up against the rights of children. In 1989 The U.N. Convention on
the Rights of the Child adopted a resolution that states, “The child shall be registered
immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a
nationality, and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”
The U N declaration supports the rights of a child to know the mother and father who
created him or her. Divorce and unwed childbearing revolutions have created a situation
where more and more children are not cared for by their own two natural parents. Because
same –sex bonding cannot produce children naturally, reliance on reproductive technologies
will increasingly create a situation where children do not even know who their natural parents
are. The child’s right to a natural biological heritage is denied to him or her.
Blankenhorn argues, “For those who ask ‘Where’s the harm?’ regarding same-sex
marriage, here is the inescapable fact: Changing marriage changes parenthood, and changing
parenthood in ways that permit and even encourage adults to wipe out the double origin of
some children is a threat to all children… When Canada, by way of implementing same-sex
marriage, erased the concept of natural parent from basic Canadian law, there was no asterisk
saying ‘for gay and lesbian couples only’. The idea of the natural parent got wiped out in law
for every child and every couple in Canada.” The term “natural parent” was removed from
Canadian law and replaced with the term “legal parent”.
Moving Toward Marriage
“We’re here, we’re queer, we’re redefining the term ‘family’”. A 1992 study reported that
55% of gay men and 71% of lesbians were in committed or steady relationships. However, they
were unable to marry and obtain the legal benefits of marriage, including insurance coverage
Over the Rainbow: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America. 2010
Dr. M. L. Coppock
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