Queer // Current TV

Don't shout at the Telly: Queer Progress

Gay rights have vastly improved over the decades, but have we progressed enough? This... more

worldwrite
added this
7 days ago
|
2 comments

1041 BASH AM, Ex-Transgender Conversion/Reparative Therapy

Dr. Heir Stephon Hotze on 1041 BASH AM Family Values Radio from Central Texas. If... more

Cristan_Williams
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Ex-Transgender Radio from Texas

So yes, this is satire. I’m not ex-trans and I’m not a right-winger who... more

Cristan_Williams
added this
5 months ago
|
0 comments

94.5 "The Buzz" Anti-Trans Rants

I’ve received a few reports from local trans folk who state that during their... more

Cristan_Williams
added this
6 months ago
|
0 comments

The REAL "Response" in Houston, Texas to Hate, Bigotry and Murder

While Perry and his 3 ring circus of anti-queer hate is gearing up to congratulate... more

Cristan_Williams
added this
6 months ago
|
2 comments

Why There Will Never Be A Straight Pride Day

The city of San Francisco had a fabulous weekend of marches and parades. There was the... more

baghdadbythebay
added this
8 months ago
|
0 comments

Senator Al Franken Sponsors Equal Immigration Rights Legislation for Same-Sex Couples

Sen. Al Franken is the sponsor of legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate late last... more

rhondawinter
added this
10 months ago
|
0 comments

Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt - A Gay Servicemember Remembered

The story of Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, a gay servicemember who died in the closet in... more

donkeyfly69
added this
11 months ago
|
9 comments

Big Surprise: White, Rich Gay Families More Accepted than Single Moms

When Steve Pougnet was sworn in as mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., in 2007, his husband, Christopher Green, was at his side. In Pougnet's arms was his then 2-year-old son, Beckham, while Green held the other twin, Julia.
It was a moment neither man could have imagined possible when they met 19 years ago. Even then, they knew they someday wanted to have children, but they didn’t know if it would be possible and couldn’t be sure how their family would be viewed if they did.
"At that time, we didn’t have any idea how to make this happen,” remembers Pougnet, who is now 47. “We didn’t see any gay couples with kids on the streets.”
When the couple eventually found an organization that would link them up with a surrogate, they jumped at the opportunity — and the twins, now age 5, were born soon after.
Highly visible gay families like Pougnet’s may be changing the way Americans view the world. And a new report by the Pew Research Center seems to bear this out. Its nationally representative survey of 2,691 people found that Americans are more accepting of families led by gay and lesbian parents than of single moms.
The survey found that when it comes to opinions overall on non-traditional families, such as those with gay and lesbian parents, single mothers, and unmarried parents, the country is split three ways: a third of Americans (dubbed Acceptors by Pew) are comfortable with a wide variety of family situations, a third (Rejectors) consider non-traditional arrangements to be damaging to the country’s social fabric, while the final third (Skeptics) are mixed in their views — approving of some arrangements, but not others.
When it comes to families like Pougnet’s, the news is all good. The vast majority of Acceptors and Skeptics believe gay and lesbian families are at least OK — and might even bring something positive to society.
But single mothers are less accepted, the poll found. That’s where Acceptors and Skeptics differ the most, says Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center.
“If you took out the question about single mothers, there would be only two groups: Acceptors and Rejectors,” Taylor says.
While 98 percent of Acceptors think there’s nothing wrong with women raising their children alone, 99 percent of Skeptics and 98 percent of Rejectors believe that’s bad for society. (The survey only asked about single mothers, not single fathers.)
Even though it's been decades since then Vice-President Dan Quayle famously lambasted the fictional TV character, and single mother, Murphy Brown, public sentiment may not have changed significantly. Just two weeks ago, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee called out pregnant Oscar winner Natalie Portman as glamorizing "the idea of out-of-wedlock children."
Experts say the survey results didn't surprise them.
Studies have shown that kids raised by a single parent don’t do quite as well as those from two parent families, says Margaret Crosbie-Burnett, a professor emerita at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. But the effect isn’t huge, she said. Crosbie-Burnett blamed the level of negativity found in the report on the fact that the survey asked about single mothers rather than single parents.
Katherine Stamps Mitchell, an assistant professor of human ecology and sociology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, suggested the question hooked into misconceptions Americans still harbor against single moms.

[More at link]

Bear in mind, the article is using Natalie Portman, a rich white woman, as an example of a single mom. Is rich white women what you picture when you think of single mothers? Does this portrayal accurately characterize why those surveyed may have chosen the stances they did?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42078511/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/When Steve Pougnet was sworn in as mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., in 2007, his... more