Gay union offshoot: In Tennessee, mother and father now called 'Parent 1,' 'Parent 2'
Instead of having a mother and father, a child in Tennessee now has "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" as far as the state's Administrative Office of Courts is concerned.
The state revised how its documents refer to family members shortly after the Supreme Court redefined America's perception of marriage by allowing for same-sex union, according to Todd Starnes, host of "Fox News & Commentary" in an article he wrote for Charisma News.
"I was alerted to the gender-neutral parenting documents by Kendra Armstrong, a family law attorney in Memphis and one of my longtime readers," Starnes wrote. Armstrong demanded to know why heterosexual parents are having their rights violated, and why it was improper for the court of law to refer to parents as a mother and father.
"The court spokesperson did not elaborate on why they felt compelled to change the longtime wording or whether Parent 1 brings home the bacon or whether Parent 2 wears the pants in the relationship," said Starnes, as he echoed Armstrong's belief that "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" are actually very offensive since they imply that "one parent is the first parent and the other parent is secondary."
As ridiculous as the incident may appear, Starnes wrote that this is actually not the first time that the US government attempted to redefine traditional family roles. Back in 2011, the State Department already removed the words mother and father from US passport applications, he said.
"The State Department released a statement at the time noting that the changes reflected 'improvements' that were being made to 'provide a gender neutral description of a child's parents and in recognition of different types of families,'" Starnes said.
He thinks the true motive behind the actions of gay marriage activists was to deconstruct the traditional American family, and therefore put a ban on the terms mommy and daddy.
"I reckon it's only a matter of time before Tennessee completely conforms to the demands of the gender-neutral crowd and begins referring to children as 'Thing One' and 'Thing Two,'" he said.
