just like you daddy.....

i never thought i'd live to see the day when a son could look up at his father and say, "when i grow up i want to have a husband just like yours, daddy!"

my liberal friends call me an extremist or alarmist when i confront the logic and morality of homosexual marriage. they say that there is no fear of raising a child with certain preconceptions. "what are you afraid of? you think they're going to raise a host of little homosexuals?" they go on to ask me, "did you ever 'choose' to be heterosexual?" "do you think homosexuals, 'choose' to be that way?" my answer is yes. at some point in any person's life, they are bound to make a determined choice of how they will act in the world. now, whether or not there is a "gay gene" is not what i'm concerned with. i am concerned with learned behavior. and there is no more influential place of learning than the home.

i was born into a lower middle class, christian household. we had a traditional american family: dad, mom, sisters & brother. it was the norm. i admired my parents and the life we had. especially when exposed to the households of others. my mom loved to cook, clean & care for her family. my dad loved to work. my sisters loved to pick at one another and i loved to pick on them. we all picked on my youngest brother! i was raised knowing what a family should look like.

now, let's take a look at a new definition of family; two dads & a son. this young boy's norm is two fathers. he is only exposed to this norm and knows no other - except for television families. if this boy is anything like i was, he loves his family and most likely will be influenced by the structure of it. no matter what his own personal desires may be, they could very easily be outweighed by the influence of his own love for the structure of his household. this child is raised knowing what a family should look like.

so, can a child be influenced to live a certain lifestyle merely by years of social interaction? YES, a child can be molded, trained and conditioned to lead a lifestyle that they would not have, had they not been raised in a particular type of household. (i.e. parents with drug addictions, alcoholism, domestic violence or an organized, caring peaceful household.) children learn to present themselves in the world by what they see at home. it is a perfect example of learned behavior. using such an example, it could be very easy to imagine a son looking up at his father and saying, "when i grow up i want to have a husband like yours, daddy!"

i never thought i'd live to see the day.