Mitt Romney is quoted as having said:
"The children of America have the right to have a father and a mother,'' Romney said in his prepared remarks. "What should be the ideal for raising a child? Not a village, not ‘parent A' and ‘parent B,' but a mother and a father.''
Romney also warned about the societal impact of gay parents raising children. "Scientific studies of children raised by same-sex couples are almost nonexistent,'' he said. "It may affect the development of children and thereby future society as a whole.''
Romney expressed similar beliefs during a speech in 2005 to socially conservative voters in South Carolina, as he was beginning to be viewed as a serious candidate for president.
"Some gays are actually having children born to them,'' he declared. "It's not right on paper. It's not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and father.''
There are two parts to my worrying about my future involvement in the church:
1) Will I continue to see people with views such as this? Undoubtedly it will happen, especially with a recent General Conference talk by Dallin H. Oaks which discussed children of gay couples and single parents as being without a doubt, disadvantaged, and essentially neglected.
2) Will there be any change if I leave? Undoubtedly not, once again. If I go to church with my future black son and do my best to raise him well, maybe it will change some hearts and minds to open their hearts and minds.
I still believe in the church despite some of these kinds of statements. People who doubt the sincerity with which I desire to be a father need only to read this blog for a few entries to know it is a passion of mine. To not be a parent would kill me.
Will I stay? I like to think I'd say yes, especially given No. 2's logic. Maybe I will be the gay Mormon parent pioneer, having a multi-racial family and breaking everyone's narrow-minded thought process down.
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