Comments on "Our children need a mother and a father to thrive."

I know, right?!

Both of these adults need to be soundly beaten then sterialized.

Then jailed for several years.

"But, hey, at least they weren’t adopted by fags."

Could still happen.

That is SO gay.

@2, Just several years?

@3, Yeah, cause the straight folks won't want 'em.

Those wacky breeders!

What will they do next??

Dan, do you think maybe the initial point has been made with this series and now you run the risk of being accused of exploiting the horror of these situations? It's starting to feel sensationalist.

I get it, and I wholeheartedly concur with the truth you are conveying - that sexual orientation has nothing to do with one's ability to parent and anyone who thinks otherwise is a) bonkers and b) standing in the way of children finding loving homes.

I cheered the first time you cleverly pointed out the truck-sized holes in the ridiculous "mother/father" argument against gay adoption. Now it just feels like you're exploiting these tragedies (and while the whackjobs who oppose gay adoptions do that sort of thing all the time, you are not a whackjob). And now that it's just same thing different horrorshow, is it really getting us anywhere? Stop making me cry at my desk.

But bring on the new, brilliant, devastating Dan Savage way to tell those homophobic fuckers what's what. I'm ready to post the link.

The first story about a gay couple that abuses a child is going to hit the fan and one wonders who and what will be the reaction. People, good and bad, are gay and straight. People are the same. I worry about generalizations. They can be dangerous. The point should be protecting the children from ANY abuser.

I have to agree with 7 on this. I have a 6-year-old girl, and seeing these stories about abused children really brings me to tears (and I'm reading this at my desk, my co-workers can't understand the weeping), and it just seems to me that now you are preaching to the choir. I have yet to see a post from a reader disagreeing about gay adoption, or at least not a convincing one.

You've made the point. Now, what's the next step? How about working towards harsher punishments for anyone abusing children.

Start a petition. Start a campaign. I'll support that. I'll knock on doors for you, I'll put the word out. I'm sick and tired of seeing baby rapists and child abusers put back out on the streets after serving out a few months of a woefully inappropriatly small sentence. You have the resources, you have the audience.

You have our attention. Now do something with it.

I have to agree. In the 'comments' area of the KING-5 dot com article about the girl in Carnation, someone made this argument. Not nearly as articulately as our friend Dan, but the gist was the same. A few of the other posters took him apart for politicizing/exploiting the tragedy. Clearly they are not Stranger readers! You know your audience, Dan, and the point has been made. It's gone over fairly well here but enough is enough. I would suggest casting a wider net if you expect to bring anyone else around on this. But above all I would agree with #9 - Recruit us! We will do the footwork for you.

#9: Dan has made it clear what the next step is. Protect Marriage Equality. Even if you don't have a question for Dan (and the deadline has passed), the next step is: give to NoOn8.

@11 - I'm sorry, but protecting gay rights is not going to help stop people abusing their children. Hell, giving to NoOn8 isn't even guarantee that gay people will have the right to marry.