Ty_N_Al pointed out in their comment that the "Age of Enlightenment" hasn't arrived in some geographical areas, and she is right. Maybe that is why so many of us have bad dreams about social services coming to confiscate our children.

If you’ve had dreams like that, chalk it up to your unconscious responding to the insidious pressure all gay parents feel to be perfect. In rare instances, this pressure exerts itself even before you conceive or give birth. As a group, we know all too well that we can’t afford to screw up the way straight parents regularly do, and we can’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the acceptance of friends and neighbors. One tiny misstep and we could supply the Christian Right with a new and successful hook for their direct mail fundraising campaign. The bloodhounds at FoxNews.com could be sniffing out stories and writing headlines like these:

Lez-NOT-Be Mom!
Megachurch Bishop says “I’ll Raise Her Child”
Close the Cryobanks to Unstable Lesbians
Gay Hedonism Inconsistent with Demands of Parenting
Theo-Cons: Gays Damage Western Culture
Neo-Cons: Put Gays on the Front Line in Iran (if they’re so eager to serve)
Anti-Taxers: Tax Gay Parents Instead of Us
Op-Ed: Is It Time for a National Registry of Gay Parents?

And Fox News has a way of generating momentum. Before long, the Senate Armed Services Committee could be calling for a release of all Guantanamo enemies of the state in order to fill the vacated cages with us. Our children could become wards of Christian conservatives while the ACLU would be fighting (probably to no avail) to get us a hearing in front of the last living Democratic-appointed federal judge who was in his nineties, wearing Attends, but still hanging in there.

These kinds of nightmares are a wake-up call to all of us. Don’t be so sure the Enlightenment has come. Be prepared for anything. Make sure you’re ready for parenthood—and don’t f--- it up!

© 2008 by Carrie Smith