{"id":3801,"date":"2012-07-03T17:40:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T21:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=3801"},"modified":"2013-01-23T18:50:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-23T23:50:06","slug":"baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html","title":{"rendered":"Baby and Mommy and Mommy and Daddy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
Hey! You with the hands! Can I see your papers?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rod Dreher is upset about a bill in California that would allow a child to have more than two parents in the eyes of the law<\/a>. \u00a0(The double indent is Dreher quoting an article, followed by his comment in normal blockquote formatting).<\/p>\n

\n

State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have multiple parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today,\u201d the San Francisco Democrat said.<\/p>\n

\u2026SB 1476 stemmed from an appellate court case last year involving a child\u2019s biological mother, her same-sex partner, and a man who had an affair with the biological mother and impregnated her while she was separated temporarily from her female lover.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an attempt to accommodate the radical irregularities in modern childbearing practices (surrogacy, etc.). What would this law teach us? That there is no such thing as the natural family \u2014 that family is whatever we say it is. Or, as Barbara Bush witlessly put it<\/a> to the GOP Convention in 1992, \u201cHowever you define family, that\u2019s what we mean by family values.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Dreher is too dogmatic in expecting civil law to conform to biology. \u00a0Law shapes and reflects culture, it\u2019s true, but it\u2019s also used as a kind of bureaucratic shorthand. \u00a0Being able to walk into a hospital and identify as a \u2018parent\u2019 will get you into the room of your child and empowered to make medical decisions much faster than trying to explain that you\u2019re the egg donor and domestic partner of the mother of the patient.<\/p>\n

In these cases, the law is recognizing a relationship that already exists, and is fitting it into the\u00a0likeliest\u00a0looking niche. \u00a0But the law moves slowly, so we\u2019re often stuck using old categories that are redolent of a tradition that\u2019s no longer universal (or perhaps never was). \u00a0It would be easier for the law to recognize civil unions and leave marriage to churches and\u00a0communities<\/a>. \u00a0It would be simpler for the state to recognize guardians \u2014 the person(s) who has legal responsibility for the child, and leave it to a community or a family whether that authority is restricted to biological parents, shared across a blended family, incorporates extended family, or even something more exotic, like vowed friendship.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think this category of guardianship is in danger of becoming contentless. \u00a0Although it is not rooted in biology, the obligation of the strong to the weak and of experience to innocence seems worth celebrating and setting off as special, in all of its various incarnations. \u00a0It\u2019s up to a community and tradition to keep their particular instantiation of this virtue fiercely attractive.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u2014 \u2014<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s one institution that signed on to the idea of more than two parents quite some time ago: college financial aid offices are notorious for counting all the assets of all four parents against the demonstrated scholarship need of a student, regardless of how much support and contact the original parents have kept up after the split.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rod Dreher is upset about a bill in California that would allow a child to have more than two parents in the eyes of the law. \u00a0(The double indent is Dreher quoting an article, followed by his comment in normal blockquote formatting). State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,48],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-3801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marriage-2","category-morality-in-practice","tag-churchstate"],"yoast_head":"\nBaby and Mommy and Mommy and Daddy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rod Dreher is upset about a bill in California that would allow a child to have more than two parents in the eyes of the law. \u00a0(The double indent is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baby and Mommy and Mommy and Daddy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rod Dreher is upset about a bill in California that would allow a child to have more than two parents in the eyes of the law. \u00a0(The double indent is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-03T21:40:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-23T23:50:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.photographybylaurel.com\/gallery\/images\/3\/baby_in_arms_1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html\",\"name\":\"Baby and Mommy and Mommy and Daddy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-03T21:40:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-23T23:50:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Rod Dreher is upset about a bill in California that would allow a child to have more than two parents in the eyes of the law. \u00a0(The double indent is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/07\/baby-and-mommy-and-mommy-and-daddy.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Baby and Mommy and Mommy and Daddy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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