Author: Manna Selassie
California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 274 on Sept. 27, allowing courts to recognize more than two legal parents for a child. Brown’s choice to sign legislation that provides equal protections for children with all kinds of families supports the complexities of the modern household, taking a step in the right direction by rejecting the dominant notion of the nuclear family and challenging baseless concerns about child development in nontraditional families.
SB 274 was inspired by a controversial 2011 court case concerning the daughter of two lesbian mothers who was placed in foster care after a fight between the two mothers. The fight left one mother in prison and the other unable to care for the child. Another willing caretaker, her biological father, was not given parental rights by the court simply because previous legislation had codified the notion of a nuclear family, only allowing for two legal parents.
This exemplification of the clearly illogical limitations of out-of date laws which wouldn’t allow the judge to decide in the child’s best interest brought the issue to light and allowed for Senate Bill 274 to become a reality. Still, conservatives such as the Capitol Resource Institute, resisted this bill, posing it as harmful to children “who thrive in homes with their biological mother and father, or with adoptive parents being male and female role models.”
While conservatives may oppose this reconceptualization of healthy homes and lifestyles, there is no denying the reality of American families and children that have different needs. In the bill, Senator Mark Leno wrote, “The structure of today’s families is evolving, and courts need the ability to recognize these changes so children are supported by the adults that play a central role in loving and caring for them.”
For many Americans, it is obvious that the average family is far from the nuclear family portrayed in television shows like “the Cosby Show” and “Roseanne,” and that it’s about time Americans started embracing it. The Cosby Show illustrated the daily lives of an “average” American family that just happened to be successful in every way. The father was a full-time, on-call obstetrician while the the mother was a brilliant lawyer. The mono-racial couple had five heterosexual, cisgender (meaning not trans, intersex or other gender identifying) college-going children who became an American poster family during the 1990s.
While many such families truly exist in the United States, the reluctance to acknowledge or support diversity in gender, sexuality or even race can be unbearable for children of divorced or of LGBTQ parents. Many Americans watched these shows that proclaimed the traditional, nuclear family as the healthiest and best. Although the Cosby Show is praised for bringing a black middle class family into mainstream television for the first time, there was a constant affirmation of their family as the model family for the millions that watched.
Certainly, the acknowledgment of families from all walks of life is not only changing in pop culture, but, most importantly, institutionally, as evidenced by California’s new law. Additionally, there are several studies and influential voices in the academic world discussing the transforming values of the American family. Professionals in child development discredit all backward beliefs that a child needs both a father and mother figure to be healthy. In 2010, sociologists from New York University and the University of Southern California published a study finding no evidence of gender-based parenting abilities aside from the “partial exception of lactation.” Sociologists agreed that the gender, sexuality and structure (single, two or more parents) differences in families had no significant effect on the child’s psychological adjustment and social success. The well-being of a child does not depend on upholding traditions but rather on love and care.
Support for all children and families needs to be valued across America, and Californians should be proud to say it started here. A re-evaluation of outdated gender norms is also demonstrated in Brown’s signing of the landmark School Success and Opportunity Act in August that asserts, “California public schools have a responsibility to ensure that all of their students – regardless of their gender identity – can access school-based resources.”
This is a big step forward for transgender children to receive all services and participate in extra-curricular activities in school without gender bias. Many children face resistance from not only their insensitive peers, but also from their teachers and counselors who refuse to affirm their identity by banning them from certain activities. For instance, transgender children may not be allowed to participate in sports or use the correct bathrooms due to people rejecting their identities. The School Opportunity Act bans these kinds of discrimination. Although our society has been slow at progress in transgender equality, this law finally gives transgender children the basic rights they deserve at school.
It is hard enough to be a child who doesn’t fit the mainstream. Oftentimes, trusted friends, the media and even doctors tell nontraditional families to “fix” their child’s gender problem or give them a father/mother figure. Scientists and several legislators now know that it doesn’t matter how many moms a child has or what gender they identify with. All that matters in a family is love and care.
Governor Brown’s actions will not make everyone in our society respect and recognize our diverse population, but he is off to a fantastic start in recognizing what is right and what is cruel.
Manna Selassie is a senior DWA major. She can be reached at selassie@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyMSelassie.
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