American Girl v. One Million Moms
One Million Moms, a conservative advocacy group, made headlines with their indignation over a homosexual couple being featured in the kids’ magazine, American Girl. American Girl had the audacity to show a girl with her TWO adopted dads and three adopted siblings within its glossy pages. But, not wanting to jump to conclusions, I cruised on over to the One Million Moms website to delve into the details of their beef with the magazine.
Here are what I found to be their most significant problems with the publication:
American Girl did not remain “neutral in the cultural war”.
Well, first off thank you, American Girl. If a “cultural war” is waging, then please sign me up to be on your side. I would like to subscribe to a magazine that features an array of happy children and families. Furthermore, I would like to applaud you for not only highlighting the issue of homosexuality but moreover the issue of adoption. According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, there are more than 397,122 children living within the United States that do not have permanent families. Imagine this: if only HALF of One Million Moms stopped focusing their time and money on a children’s toy magazine and instead used that laser beam of love to adopt a child, we would have no children left in foster care!
American Girl is “attempting to desensitize our youth by featuring a family with two dads.”
I know this might sound weird but what 1MM calls “desensitizing”, I like to refer to as “teaching my kids acceptance”. I think it is a fabulous way to show my children that families come in all different shapes and sizes. When the term “desensitized” is used, it is inferring that if children see too much of something they might just get used to it. Yes, please! Get my kids used to an assortment of colors, numbers, and roles that make up the modern family. And thanks again, American Girl, for exposing my children to the many faces of the word “family”.
A child seeing a family with two dads can cause a “premature conversation she is far too young to understand.”
Again, maybe this just me, but I am all for a spark in healthy conversation. I do not think that my children are ever too young to discuss that they will see a lot of different definitions of what it means to be a family. The conversation itself is never premature if you make it age-appropriate. Opening the door for questions about a friend who is raised by her grandmother or a schoolmate that has only one parent…these are opportunities for discussions about diversity, in all of its forms.
One Million Moms must “remain diligent to stand up for biblical values and truth.”
I hear ya, 1MM. You are campaigning for your beliefs. And I refuse to knock you down for that. However, and this is a biggie, values and truths are different for every person. American Girl is as its title implies—it is for the American Girl. The American Girl isn’t just one of us. She is not one race, one creed nor one religion. I think maybe your time would be better spent fighting your other campaigns (as listed on your website) against Black Jesus, Campbell’s Soup and The Muppets. Those fuckers are cray-cray.
{For more information on adoption, please visit www.adoptuskids.org}
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