Back in April, Focus on the Family president Jim Daly was saying that he did not see much value in continuing to fight the culture war on gay issues because he more or less expected to eventually lose the battle over marriage:
“I’m not fearful that change will happen in America. It will happen. … I don’t know what will happen with same-sex marriage, but I’m not going to be discouraged if we lose some of those battles,” he said, noting that for “98 percent” of people, traditional marriage will remain relevant.
“It’s going to be difficult in this culture and the way the demographics are going right now,” he went on. “You look at the under-35 age group. I think it’s splitting 60-40 support for same-sex marriage. There’s a lot of people in the U.S. [who] basically come to the conclusion that this is something between two adults. I will continue to defend traditional marriage, but I’m not going to demean human beings for the process.”
But, since Focus has become entirely schizophrenic since Daly took over, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Daly has now penned a piece criticizing President Obama for daring to recognize families with “two fathers” on Father’s Day:
President Obama is very carefully and quietly transforming homosexual politics and policy on the federal level. With the use of his executive authority he is actively engaged in an attempt to normalize the public’s perception of homosexuality, from supporting the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to extending and expanding health care coverage for homosexual partners of federal employees.
…
In elevating and equating the influence of a two-father family to that of all other traditional forms, the administration is, perhaps unknowingly, depriving children of the opportunity to have the very thing the president has so strongly and eloquently suggested they need most: A mom and a dad.
As the product of a fatherless home myself, I am keenly aware and extremely sensitive to the harsh realities of a life that is less than ideal. In fact, the president and I share this common background, and so I immediately identify with his compassion and his desire to use the bully pulpit to ease suffering and meet the needs of the neediest among us.
But the fatherhood “effect” is not cumulative – two daddies are not better than one — nor is a mother dispensable or replaceable. Instead of expending precious (and finite) energy and resources on selling the merits of two- father or two-mother families, the administration would be wise to invest and encourage the loving presence of both a mom and a dad.
It really is amazing how the mere admission and recognition that some families do in fact have two mothers or fathers drives the Religious Right absolutely insane.
