In Kohn's article, with the teaser of a title, "I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too," she says that she hopes her daughter follows her footsteps and becomes gay just like her mum.
"… more often than not, we define happiness as some variation on our own lives, or at least the lives of our expectations. If we went to college, we want our kids to go to college. If we like sports, we want our kids to like sports. If we vote Democrat, of course we want our kids to vote Democrat," she says in the piece published by the Washington Post. "I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too."
Kohn goes on to reason that after sharing her hopes with her liberal friends, who disagree with her, Kohn feels like hoping her daughter is gay is cruel. "Wanting my daughter to be a lesbian? I might as well say I want her to grow up to be lactose intolerant."
Supporting your child no matter what their sexual orientation is awesome. Having your child come to you in search of support because of their orientation and giving it to them without question is perfect and necessary. But to say one sexual orientation is better than another, that being homosexual is more favourable than not, just makes the issue more complex, more divisive.
In the article, Kohn goes on to say that she hopes her daughter learns that being gay is not just okay, but it is an asset, it is desirable. And I don't deny for a second that it isn't.
But I argue that she doesn't need to be gay to realise that. She doesn't need to follow in her mum's footsteps to realise being gay is good. She doesn't have to be a lesbian to be a gay rights activist or be surrounded by the loving gay community that her mother has built around her.
The more emphasis we put on being gay or straight or transgendered or bisexual or asexual, the more we label ourselves based on our differences instead of uniting based on what makes us so similar.
What do you think about Sally Kohn's piece? Share your opinion with us in the comments section below.
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