Refocus on the Family

by Ted on July 2, 2004

Edward at Obsidian Wings points to an ad from Focus on the Family. It contains a large picture of a sad child, and expresses the concern that children raised by gay parents will grow up without both a father and a mother, and encourages readers to contact their senators to support the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Edward points out, quite rationally, that the vast majority of children who don’t have both a mother and a father are in that position because their heterosexual parents have split up, or never were together. If being raised by both a male and female parent is important enough to change the Constitution, surely it’s important enough to ban divorce.

A few questions remain…

Who is this child?

For the purposes of the ad, I believe that we are to assume that he is a child who has been raised by gay parents.

Why is he sad?

He is sad because he doesn’t have both a mother and a father.

Did that happen because of gay marriage?

No. There is no gay marriage in the United States. It happened because this child was either adopted by, or born to, a gay couple.

Would this child be worse off if his parents were allowed to be legally married?

It’s not clear how the marriage of his parents would harm him.

Would gay marriage create more homosexuals, thereby creating more sad little boys like this one?

It seems unlikely that the state has the power to create more homosexuals.

So, why