An Open Letter to Rick Santorum

JT has two moms.  He's always had two moms and though we've not been raising him as a couple since he was six, that doesn't change the essential fact that his is a non-traditional family.  Add in his mom's girlfriends and close family friends, and JT is a boy surrounded by lesbians.

He knows plenty of women who aren't gay, of course, and he treats the two moms element of his world as the perfectly normal fact of life that it is.  He knows that many families are different from his but that doesn't matter to him.  What matters to him is that he is a well-loved boy; one whose arrival in the world nearly 12 years ago was much-anticipated and much-sought.  With the exception of one incident when he was in the 4th grade, he's never encountered a moment where the value of his family has been in doubt.  Even then, he wasn't entirely sure that it was his family that had been insulted.  That's not how JT perceives the world.

Last Friday morning, JT and I were going about our usual getting-ready-for-school routine.  We stood in the hallway upstairs, listening to the news as he combed his unruly hair.  The story on NPR was about you, Mr. Santorum, an outgrowth of the massive amount of media attention you've enjoyed since your second place finish in the Iowa Caucus.  The story outlined a number of your political views and we heard your voice speaking about gays and their families.  And before I could turn off the radio, in one moment, Mr. Santorum, you condemned me, my family, and my 11 year old son.  There was a pause after your ridiculous invective and in that moment, JT looked at me and said, "Doesn't he know that I'm just a normal boy?"

Of course, you don't understand that.  It's one of the main reasons you are not the least bit qualified to serve in elective office.  I could endure your opposition to gay rights, your ridiculous belief that family breakdown has caused our current economic difficulties, even your opposition to a woman's right to birth control.  But I will not sit idly by while you condemn people's children; my child.

For the record, Mr. Santorum, my son likes baseball and Harry Potter.  He loves his grandparents and likes to talk to them on the phone.  He's a fan of college sports, and he likes ride his bike, draw pictures, and play outside.  He likes to play games on his iPad and listen to music on his iPod.   He's kind-hearted to animals.  He helps his mama around the house and his favorite food is pizza.  He's in the 6th grade and (mostly) he completes his schoolwork on time.  He plans to go to college and dreams of being a baseball player when he grows up.  He's just a normal boy.

He's the face of our nation's future and even though he's only 11 years old, I've got a lot more confidence in JT and his generation than I have in you.  Even so, I'll thank you to be careful about your words, sir.  My son is listening.  And he's just a boy.