{"id":2826,"date":"2009-02-19T13:54:18","date_gmt":"2009-02-19T13:54:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-02-19T13:54:18","modified_gmt":"2009-02-19T13:54:18","slug":"stopped-by-airport-security-two-gay-dads-are-asked-where-did-you-get-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proudparenting.com\/2009\/02\/stopped-by-airport-security-two-gay-dads-are-asked-where-did-you-get-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Stopped by airport security, two gay dads are asked: “Where did you get them?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hollywood heavyweights experience the same frustration [and hope for progress] as the rest of us when it comes to educating the public about parents who happen to be gay.<\/p>\n

Creator and Executive Producer of “Will & Grace” – Max Mutchnick<\/a> – offers a glimpse into an airport experience while traveling with husband and infant twin daughters, Evan and Rose. In a piece for The Huffington Post<\/strong><\/a> Max writes:<\/p>\n

I stood shoeless in front of the metal detector. Rose was in my arms. Her mouth open just a tiny bit and her eyes as wide as they’ve ever been in her hundred and thirty five days of life. Behind me was my husband. He held Evan.<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Step through.”<\/cite><\/p>\n

The TSA guard said it like he was talking to a prisoner. I did as I was told. My husband followed. He held a baby in one arm and four business class tickets in the other. The guard looked at the tickets, then looked at us, then looked at the tickets.<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Who’s Rose?”<\/cite><\/p>\n

She is. I’m Max, this is Erik and that’s Evan. Rose’s sister.<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Evan’s a girl?”<\/cite><\/p>\n

Yeah. All the kids with kids are doing it.<\/cite><\/p>\n

What?<\/cite><\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/cite><\/p>\n

A moment of silence. Rage started to well up inside of me in anticipation of the next question this giant with a badge was going to ask me. How was this man going to insult my family? In what way would he make me explain my difference?<\/cite><\/p>\n

This is what he said:<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Where did you get them?”<\/cite><\/p>\n

What?<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Where did you get your kids?”<\/cite><\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a hideously offensive question, but implicit in what he was saying was the fact that we were the dads and they were our daughters. Progress! Progress from a moron. But progress nonetheless. I was feeling some love for the TSA Giant.<\/cite><\/p>\n

I made them.<\/cite><\/p>\n

This threw him, but I had his attention. And there in the middle of LAX with a line snaking to the front door of the airport I began to explain Gestational Surrogacy.<\/cite><\/p>\n

There’s a donor. She gives us the eggs. We never meet her. She is not the “mom”.<\/cite><\/p>\n

There is no mom. There’s a surrogate. She’s the oven. (Giants prefer short sentences with small words). My husband and I (the Giant winced) fertilized four eggs. They went inside the surrogate. Two of the eggs took. Fraternal twins were born 8 months and two weeks later. One of them was biologically his. One of them was biologically mine. But they’re both ours, you know?<\/cite><\/p>\n

“You can do that?”<\/cite><\/p>\n

You can, Giant.<\/cite><\/p>\n

“Very cool.”<\/cite><\/p>\n

He wanted to ask more and I wanted to tell him more. But alas a plane trip was waiting with loving grandparents at the other end.<\/cite><\/p>\n

So back to the responsibility of being a gay father. It turns out the key is the same as it would be if I were a straight father. It’s about patience. Showing patience in every way to everyone. I’m different, but not really.<\/cite><\/p>\n

Max Mutchnick has been honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series; two People\u2019s Choice Awards (Favorite Comedy); and six Golden Globe nominations (Best Comedy Series) for his work on \u201cWill & Grace\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image: The Internet Movie Database<\/a><\/cite><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hollywood heavyweights experience the same frustration [and hope for progress] as the rest of us when it comes to educating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[436,214,1369],"yoast_head":"\nStopped by airport security, two gay dads are asked: "Where did you get them?" - Proud Parenting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/proudparenting.com\/2009\/02\/stopped-by-airport-security-two-gay-dads-are-asked-where-did-you-get-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stopped by airport security, two gay dads are asked: "Where did you get them?" - 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