Abuse of Children Under the Smoke Screen of "Religious Freedom"

Which of these babies doesn't deserve to be treated?

A Michigan doctor's refusal to treat a 6 day old baby because her mothers were lesbian is drawing much needed attention to the hypocrisy of Christofascists who pretend and disingenuously claim to be concerned "about the children" even as their anti-gay policies harm children literally on a daily basis.  Indeed, one hears these lies from the hate merchants at The Family Foundation ("TFF"), Virginia's leading hate group, even as they oppose any measure that would give the children of gays the same social safety net protections enjoyed by the children of heterosexual couples (TFF also opposes Medicaid expansion that would bring access to health care to thousands of children).  A piece in Slate looks at both the Michigan situation and the larger damage done to children by the "godly folk."  Here are highlights:

Last September, Krista and Jami Contreras of Detroit met with Dr. Vesna Roi for a prenatal checkup. Believing they had developed a strong rapport with the pediatrician, the couple returned shortly after the birth of their child for the newborn’s routine wellness appointment. When they arrived, another doctor informed them that, after praying on it, Roi had decided to refuse to treat the 6-day-old baby girl. The reason? Her mothers are lesbians.

Roi’s willingness to inflict collateral damage on an infant just to express her anti-gay animus obviously makes her a monstrously immoral person, as well as a terrible doctor.

Under state and federal law, Roi’s actions were perfectly legal.  Even those conservatives who generally support legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people seem shocked by Roi’s decision. 

Who, after all, could have enough hate in their hearts to disadvantage a child just because of her parents’ identity?   Everybody who opposes same-sex marriage, actually. Few social movements actively harm American children—economically, socially, mentally, physically—as much as the battle against marriage equality. When states refuse to recognize gay parents’ marriages, they impose steep financial burdens on those parents’ children, forcing parents to pay more in taxes while preventing them and their children from obtaining state health care benefits and social services.

Children of unmarried gay couples could also be ineligible for health insurance through their parents on account of their state’s discriminatory laws. 

Economic impediments are only the most visible of a broad array of emotional and social scars these cruel laws inflict on children. In some states, gay parents are not permitted to jointly adopt their children, forcing one parent to be a legal stranger to his child. With no custodial rights over his child, a gay parent may be prohibited from authorizing medical treatment for his own child in the case of a medical emergency. 

Perhaps more distressingly, recent studies have confirmed that the stigma that conservatives foist upon the children of gay couples, married and unmarried, wreaks havoc on those children’s mental health. The often vicious debate over gay people’s relationships sends a message to their children that their parents are deviant, lesser-than—and that they, too, are inferior, for being part of an aberrant, ersatz family. We know, of course, that without this stigma, the children of gay couples would be just as happy and healthy as the children of straight couples. 

But thanks to the Christian right’s quest to demean and debase gay relationships, gay parents’ children are being saddled with utterly preventable stress and depression.

The next time you hear a "godly Christian" demeaning gays and peddling hate, call them out and spurn them socially.  Better yet, get your friends and family members to do likewise.  These people need to become despised social outcasts.  One cannot choose to be straight, but one actively chooses to be filled with hatred of others while using "religious belief" as justification for one's vicious behavior.