I know this topic has come up a lot on SDMB (recently here). I don’t know if this has been covered before, so I’ll just take a stab at it.
I was raised by two gay men, my father and his long term partner. If anyone has any questions about how a child feels in this enviroment, I suppose I’m the guy to ask.
Politics? I’m not quite sure what you mean by this question. My father was republician and his partner democrat. There was a fair amount of light hearted flame wars at the dinner table.
As for the other question, do you mean repercussions because of my father and his lifestyle on me?
Do you feel that you have been put under any pressure regarding your sexual orientation? (i.e. has your father expressed disappointment/relief that you turned out straight); I realise this comes across as a stupid question; I am attempting to address the ‘gay parents make their children gay’ mindset.
Did you ever suffer teasing or bullying from other children?
Did you have access to a female role model to talk to/ask advice of if required? (I guess that wouldn’t matter so much for a guy though.)
Being straight, you obviously weren’t “turned gay” by your parents. I can’t think of any other excuses people who disagree with gay upbringings use to condemn it.
There was never any pressure other then “you need to do what you feel is right”.
My father/s taught me that sex was just a thing humans do. It doesn’t matter who it’s with or how it’s done as long as it feels right with you and the partner.
They were also very supportive in my relationships. They both loved this one girl I was dating and were both really upset when they learned we broke up. In fact, this might have been the ONLY time I was pressured to date someone I didn’t want to.
“Call her back right now and say you’re sorry.”
At the end of the day they just wanted to see me happy in a relationship.
I don’t think I was harrased any more then any other kid. That said, not everyone knew. I suspect the fat kid or the dorky crosseyed kid got harrassed more then I did.
But my friends didn’t bother me about it any more then the “like father like son” jab from time to time (which I always replied “huh? I’m not a banker.”) But those jabs were lighthearted in the same way we told the “yo momma so ugly” jokes.
My mother was around and I was supposed to spend weekends with her (my brother lived with her and spend weekends with my father). I didn’t get along much with my monther in those days so we never talked about things other then “how is school”. Other then her I didn’t have a “female role model”.
My fathers partner was the person I could confide in on many levels. He did have sort of a motherly quality about him. I suppose there was something about him not being my father, yet still being a trusted source for advice.
Only from my mother. She really didn’t understand what being gay meant. She half expected my father to be running around the house in a new frock I suppose.
There was one small time in my life (6th grade) where my brother and I spent a lot more time over at her house. I suspect this was her influence on my father to have the kids in a “regular” home (but I really couldn’t say for sure). My mother and I butted heads and I really disliked being there. This ended up with me always running away from her house and ending up at my fathers who lived across town. It wasn’t too long before I was at my fathers full time again.
Seven, from what age were you raised purely by your father and his partner?
Did your mother and father split before your birth or did you have a period in your early life where they were raising you?
Eleusis, with respect, I haven’t noticed Seven coming across as defensive with his answers. In my opinion, all things being equal (i.e. all loving, responsible parents), kids raised by gay parents would only be at a disadvantage when it comes to teasing or feeling different, but if Seven hasn’t experienced things like that, he can’t just make it up to provide a downside.
How old were you when you realized there was something “different” about your family? Did you speak about it with your folks? Or did you just kinda go with it?