Teh One Who Knocks
02-25-2015, 12:21 PM
By Dominic Kelly
http://i.imgur.com/dTWVqAG.jpg
Openly gay political commentator Sally Kohn says, in a new essay for The Washington Post, that she hopes her daughter is gay too, despite already being attracted to boys.
Kohn, a well-known political commentator on networks like CNN and Fox News, says that like all parents who want their children to follow in their footsteps, she also has hoped that her daughter would turn out to be gay. Despite those wishes, however, Kohn says she’s already starting to notice that her 6-year-old daughter is most likely straight and that leaves her a bit disappointed.
“I live in the liberal bubble of Park Slope, Brooklyn, where no yuppie would ever admit to wanting their kid to be anything in particular, other than happy,” Kohn explains in her essay. “But more often than not, we define happiness as some variation on our own lives, or at least the lives of our expectations. If we went to college, we want our kids to go to college. If we like sports, we want our kids to like sports. If we vote Democrat, of course we want our kids to vote Democrat. I’m gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too.”
Kohn goes on to acknowledge that while many of her friends and loved ones don’t understand her feelings on this issue, she has many valid reasons to back her perspective.
“If my daughter is gay, I don’t worry about her having a hard life. But I do worry about people expecting her to have a hard life — helping to perpetuate discrimination that might otherwise fade more quickly,” Kohn writes. “I want my daughter to know that being gay is equally desirable to being straight. The problem is not the idea that homosexuality could be a choice but the idea that heterosexuality should be compulsory. In my house it’s plainly, evidently not. We’ve bought every picture book featuring gay families, even the not-very-good ones, and we have most of the nontraditional-gender-role books as well — about the princess who likes to fight dragons and the boy who likes to wear dresses.
“When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad. Sometimes she changes her narrative. Sometimes she doesn’t. It’s her choice,” Kohn continues. “All I ultimately care about is that she has the choice and that whatever choice she makes is enthusiastically embraced and celebrated.”
http://i.imgur.com/dTWVqAG.jpg
Openly gay political commentator Sally Kohn says, in a new essay for The Washington Post, that she hopes her daughter is gay too, despite already being attracted to boys.
Kohn, a well-known political commentator on networks like CNN and Fox News, says that like all parents who want their children to follow in their footsteps, she also has hoped that her daughter would turn out to be gay. Despite those wishes, however, Kohn says she’s already starting to notice that her 6-year-old daughter is most likely straight and that leaves her a bit disappointed.
“I live in the liberal bubble of Park Slope, Brooklyn, where no yuppie would ever admit to wanting their kid to be anything in particular, other than happy,” Kohn explains in her essay. “But more often than not, we define happiness as some variation on our own lives, or at least the lives of our expectations. If we went to college, we want our kids to go to college. If we like sports, we want our kids to like sports. If we vote Democrat, of course we want our kids to vote Democrat. I’m gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too.”
Kohn goes on to acknowledge that while many of her friends and loved ones don’t understand her feelings on this issue, she has many valid reasons to back her perspective.
“If my daughter is gay, I don’t worry about her having a hard life. But I do worry about people expecting her to have a hard life — helping to perpetuate discrimination that might otherwise fade more quickly,” Kohn writes. “I want my daughter to know that being gay is equally desirable to being straight. The problem is not the idea that homosexuality could be a choice but the idea that heterosexuality should be compulsory. In my house it’s plainly, evidently not. We’ve bought every picture book featuring gay families, even the not-very-good ones, and we have most of the nontraditional-gender-role books as well — about the princess who likes to fight dragons and the boy who likes to wear dresses.
“When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad. Sometimes she changes her narrative. Sometimes she doesn’t. It’s her choice,” Kohn continues. “All I ultimately care about is that she has the choice and that whatever choice she makes is enthusiastically embraced and celebrated.”