October 2, 2006
Part 6
Q. Is it healthy to subject children to experimental families?
The main premise of this segment is "it's never been done before". I find this argument tiresome, what visionary hasn't encountered this brick wall when trying to inspire change? We never did it that way before. Can you imagine our founding fathers sitting around smoking pipes and saying "I just don't know, we'd be exposing our children to experimental government. No one's ever tried government of the people, by the people and for the people. We'd better just stick with the status quo." Or how about those early Americans who loaded up their wagons and headed out beyond the horizon to make a new home in a new land. We don't refer to them as experimenters do we, we call them "Pioneers". How many of the children in those families came to tragic ends during the long journey, yet we hold them in our memory as heroes.
Mr. Stanton presents this quote from the "Lesbian Parenting Book":
"It can be exhilarating - and sometimes scary - to be painting a new and different lesbian family tree"
Keying on the words "exhilarating" and "scary" he likens same-sex parenting to strapping a child to a bungie cord or roller coaster against their will. Every family is an experiment. No one knows when a couple takes their marriage vows what the end result will be. What new parent, biological or adoptive doesn't look at their new child and feel exhilarated, and a little scared?
Mr. Stanton insults the intelligence of his audience by stating, "We don't experiment on animals", refering to the statement on your bottle of shampoo that no animals were harmed in the manufacture of that product. Does the term "Pavlov's dogs" ring a bell? We sent monkeys into space before we sent humans. We do experiment on animals, every day in reputable research labs all across the country, around the world and sometimes in space. Where did the medicines you take come from anyway, and how do you know they're safe? It starts with testing in animals, then moves into testing in humans (sometimes even in children) long before they are ever brought to market. We do this because in our minds, if the potential life-saving medication turns out to cause internal organs to self destruct it is better to turn the internal organs of lab rats to mush.
Posted by Anna at October 2, 2006 12:15 AM