John McCain Should Talk to the Real Expert on My Family – ME

Gust blogger Alan O’Brien-Myers is a rising senior at Holyoke
High School in Holyoke, MA, where he lives with his two moms and
younger brother.

As someone who was adopted by two lesbian moms, I was certainly
disappointed to find out that John McCain, a candidate for
President of the United States, doesn’t “believe in gay
adoption.”

What’s not to believe in? Many gays and lesbians adopt children and
create wonderful, loving families. My moms adopted me out of foster
care when I was eleven years old. I’m seventeen now. I love my
family. My moms provide for me in all the ways that other parents
provide for their children. We have our problems just like
everybody else, but in the end we take care of each other. We
believe in each other.
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What we don’t believe in is John McCain and any other politician
who is out of touch with the reality of American families. Not all
families are married moms and dads with their biological children.
Many children are raised by single parents, unmarried parents,
grandparents, aunts and uncles, and more. What makes these families
real is the love and care they have for each other, their
commitment to seeing each other through good times and bad.

John McCain says he supports a quicker route to adoption so kids
who need homes can get them faster, but he clearly has a bias
against my kind of family and all the ones I listed above. If John
McCain had his way, my family would not exist. I’m not giving up my
family just because John McCain is confused about what really makes
a family.

If John McCain really cared about families, he would trust the
professionals who have agreed that sexual orientation doesn’t
affect someone’s ability to be a good parent. He would listen to my
voice and the voice of many other kids being raised by lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender parents. It’s not that our families
are better, just that we’re basically the same, except in most
places the laws don’t protect our families very well. If John
McCain really cared about families like mine, he would let LGBT
people marry the person they love so that all families can be
treated equally to others.

My two moms, my little brother and me, we’re doing just fine. We
could do a little better if we had the support of people like John
McCain, who as President or even as a senator has so much power
over how other people live their lives. Without his support, we’ll
keep doing what we’ve always done-love each other, care for each
other, argue like all families, make up like all families, and
continue to work for a country that really respects all of its
people and families.

We’d rather have our next president support us. Wouldn’t you?