I Had Two Gay Dads Des Before It Was 'Cool' | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• I HAD TWO GAY DADS DES BEFORE IT WAS 'COOL'
• MY TWO DADS: GAY FATHERS HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE
• 10 THGS YOU’LL ONLY KNOW IF YOU’VE GROWN UP WH GAY PARENTS
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
• 6 GAY DADS ON THE CHALLENG OF MORN GAY FATHERHOOD

I HAD TWO GAY DADS DES BEFORE IT WAS 'COOL'

I’ll never fet my first day of krgarten bee was the day I learned that not everyone had two gay dads, two brothers and a beagle named Hymie. Then havg to rrect and rm the quisor that my dads were gay when they jt assumed my parents were divorced and remarried which rulted my havg two dads. ” But when my two dads met 40 years ago the notn of startg a fay as an openly gay uple wasn’t jt far-fetched, was unheard of.

A phenomenon I n only attribute to my Dad and Pop’s parentg, and their sistence that we be surround by strong, female figur (like nanni and Aunts), whose prence likely circumvented the “void” that some children ascribe to not knowg their birth I graduated llege 2014 and realized that people were still shocked to learn that I have two gay dads, I knew was important for me to e my unique posn as a child of same-sex parents to ntribute to the “normalizatn” of fai like me – somethg that as a child I had always yearned to do, but at the time lacked the rourc to acplish. They talked about how hard had been to be gay their time, and how had st both of them their reers.

MY TWO DADS: GAY FATHERS HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE

Love, be heterosexual or homosexual, should never be disuraged; should always be enuraged and accepted. Dghter of two (gay) dads, AMA.

10 THGS YOU’LL ONLY KNOW IF YOU’VE GROWN UP WH GAY PARENTS

"Gay fatherhood was virtually unheard of, ” van Gameren said. However, is important to keep md there are many different shas of gay fathers - cludg some who started fai while heterosexual Brown wh his two BrownDt Brown met his ex-wife New Castle, a small town Indiana, when he was jt 14. “When people outsi of the gay muny see gay...

"While Brown's fay stcture is different om that of Rosenberg and van Gameren's, the men all brought up a siar sentiment: Gay parents help grow acceptance for the muny. "So what advice do the gay fathers have for other gay men who are startg fai or would like to one day? “I thk as society ntu to grow, there are gog to be more and more optns, and will be easier for gay people to have children.

"The kids have to e out too - they have to e out as havg gay dads, and the parents may not be aware of bee kids try to protect their parents. ”In orr to help foster this sense of muny, Rosenberg and van Gameren started, an onle muny that helps gay men navigate fatherhood. Before you ask, this breaks down as: my blogil father; my stepdad (his partner, y, my dad’s gay); my other stepdad (my mum’s partner); my father--law and my hband (the father of my two children).

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

But what you and everyone else wants to know is what is really like growg up wh gay parents? Here are 10 thgs that everyone wh gay parents n relate to. While I was open about my parents spltg up, I knew the real reason behd the break-up uldn’t be talked about; the part where my dad me out as gay.

Has he always known he’s gay?

He don’t look gay, do he?

6 GAY DADS ON THE CHALLENG OF MORN GAY FATHERHOOD

I thk their parents were sred they’d tch the ‘gay bug’ off my dads or me (I might rry too!

Sadly, there is a really difficult si to havg gay parents – homophobia – which isn’t down to your fay, ’s society’s flt. If ’s not bad enough hearg people e ‘gay’ as a scribg word, there’s a really nasty dark si that I endured.

I tried to protect my dad, and not tell him about what was happeng at first, until I received answer phone msag at home om the bulli g homophobic slurs. I felt guilty for puttg my parents through all, and I also hated myself for not pg – I wasn’t gay, so how uld I feel so cshed by homophobia? Throughout my late teens and early twenti, I attend Gay Pri events wh my dads, I mpaigned for LGBT issu and I ma a pot about beg wh my wonrful fay.

In further tn, ’s ‘ol’ to have gay parents.