Statement of Purpose

Children Of Gay Parents
ChildrenOfGayParents.Com
Support and Information Group
Statement of Purpose

Vision
Develop a sense of community, understanding and support for children with Gay and Lesbian parents. Increase social sensitivity and awareness for both the children and parents. Provide information to help everyone better understand.

Growing up I noticed that my family was very different. My friend’s families had both a mother and father in the same house or as it started to become more popular--divorced parents. I was in the latter group.

When I was eight my father came out about his being gay and my parents divorced. My paternal family disowned him over the years and removed me from their lives as well. When I was 17 years old my mother would also announce that she too was gay. Once again for no reason other than for their sexuality I (along with my mother) would be pushed away by some family and friends. 

Being a child in a society where it was, and still is, openly and outwardly hostile towards homosexuality proved to be exceedingly stressful. There were no groups available to answer why my family was different; ostracized, why society said my new family (two fathers and two mothers) was not “real” or “normal”. I was a straight teenager that had to listen to homophobic rhetoric and although they were not talking about me I took offense and became defensive.

My focus is the actual children, regardless of their sexual orientation, that are being fought over. By people that believe being raised in a gay house is immoral and detrimental to the child. I would simply like to provide a group that acknowledges that THERE ARE children in these families. Support for the children is nowhere near the levels being paid to the parents.

• Developing a project that will give to a group that has been severely underrepresented and ignored is what I intend to do. I would like to include children of same sex (gay) parents in a formal type of forum, Included in this will be discussions designed to increases awareness about how other children have been treated, and develop consideration in mainstream society. Please do not assume I mean children brought up in homes with same sex parents have problems at home. There are many variables to take into consideration. Is the child well adjusted, is the family well adjusted is there a good support system at home available. Discrimination in its various forms is a part of all society, perhaps the same as a cross culture child hearing racial slurs not directly aimed at them. Hateful words have the ability to deeply effect development on many different levels. 
  

My objective may be to only help relate with each other and understand how prejudice and bigotry towards our parents may have inadvertently been directed to and affect us.

Develop a sense of community, understanding and support for children with Gay and or Lesbian parents. Increase social sensitivity and awareness for both the children and parents. Provide information to help everyone better understand