Water Wings Not Optional

A couple of lesbians posted in the M4M room at Craigslist last week. They were looking for a sperm donor so one of them could birth a child. They explained that their previous donor (they already have one child) was no longer available due to medical issues. They didn't want their current child to grow up alone. I replied.

But I doubt they liked what I had to say.

Basically I told them they were bucking the system - that the universe had made them lesbians for a reason - to get their genes out of the gene pool. Which sounds a tad harsh, I know, but biology/nature is, indeed, nothing if not harsh.

You see, at one point, I, too, wanted children. I was willing to ignore my gay self in order to procreate. I wanted to get married (to a woman) and have children. But, despite my best efforts (yes, I had several serious relationships with women), it never came to pass. And, now, I'm so glad that it never did. I fear I would have been a horrible parent. (But not for the reasons the Christian right would have you believe.)

I am now of the opinion that one of the reasons the universe chooses to make people gay is to remove their genes from the gene pool in order to stem the growth of the population. This is not a bad thing - especially not when one looks at the big picture. When I think of the state of the world, this world that is to be the legacy we leave for future generations to deal with, I am SO grateful to be gay and to not have procreated.

I would have been heartbroken to see my offspring inherit this planet.

One would hope that the drivers of all those SUV’s and obnoxious, fuel-guzzling Dodge trucks would share my concern for the earth’s future. But I have a feeling they are the same selfish bastards helping to overpopulate it.

Then, there are the sheer numbers of people pooping out babies without the means to take responsibility for them. Babies born into dysfunction will in turn carry on that family’s dysfunctional traditions. As long as we, as a society, subsidize parents who fail to have the means to support, raise and care for their children, we, the people, are just encouraging these cycles to continue.

Our compassion becomes a means of enabling bad behavior, and worse... the destruction of our planet.

That is why I don’t think lesbian and gay men should contribute to this problem by breeding. Of course I also don’t think our gay tax dollars should go to fund public schools for children we aren’t sending there either. Or to subsidize their food stamps. Or their medical care. If anything - families with children should be taxed MORE -not given a yearly rebate. They should be taxed - not rewarded, not cut more slack (aren’t they slack enough?).

The breeding practices of these irresponsible parents are placing burdens on our society and our ecology - why shouldn’t THEY have to pay for it?

Now, saying that lesbians and gay men should not breed is not the same as saying they should not be parents. Quite the contrary -they make the best parents - especially if they have worked through the whole sexual identity challenge. Adversity and struggle helps develop great problem-solving skills – a necessary skill when raising children.

Adoption is a great option. There are tons of children who would benefit greatly from the loving home a gay/lesbian couple could provide. And if they should opt to adopt, then, like those heterosexuals that choose to breed, they would have to kick into the kiddy-tax kitty.

But the logic behind all this will fall on deaf ears. Those who need to hear this message won’t be able to due to the fact that they have had to turn up the volume on the television set, in order to drown out one of their kids who is screaming uncontrollably, again. Heaven forbid they should miss an episode of Jerry Springer or Cops and actually supervise their brood.

These parents will stubbornly insist on pursuing their own desires in spite of their children (literally), just as gay and lesbians will stubbornly continue to buck mother-nature’s intent (literally).

I believe that every time we ignore the edicts of the universe/nature and put our own desires before the welfare of the world as a whole - we pay for it. We are punished, and we create more problems for ourselves and those with whom we share this planet. The world continues to produce more unwanted, poorly-educated, poorly-supervised children who go on to live less than spectacular lives. These adults go on to produce more toxic gasses which deplete the ozone which hastens global warming. These adults go on to create tons and tons of garbage -and not just the type that ends up as landfill, but also that of a cultural nature that eats into our collective, ever-dulling grey matter. These adults also go on to poop out more children which in turn grow up and do as their parents did -in ever increasing numbers.

Have you ever grown bacteria in a Petri dish? The bacteria’s population size starts out small. However, as it grows larger, it consumes more and more of its environment. Also keep in mind that, even in the early stages of development, the members of that population not only consume their environment, but also end up poisoning it with the waste their consumption creates. This population grows exponentially until such time that its numbers exceed the environmental resources to support said population.

And when it reaches that apex?

It dies.

It all dies.

There is always a price for such stubbornness. For such arrogance. For such selfishness.

Well, kids, in the immortal words of Peter Gabriel? Here comes the flood.

I hope you all brought your water wings.