So much wrong with this I don’t know where to begin

05 Feb 2010 05:14 pm
Posted by: Donna

H/T to Joe.My.God.

The photo on the left is the one that a Florida Christian group used to illustrate their objection to a lesbian couple adopting a child in an alert to members. The photo on the right is the actual couple. FloridaApoption (1)

Sigh.

But wait, there’s more! Scott Maxwell, editorialist for the Orlando Sentinel, couldn’t resist adding his own special layer of suckage to this homophobic misogyny extravaganza. I’m sure he meant well, and wanted to take the Florida Family Policy Council to task for their dishonesty, but was this necessary?

And to make their point about just how frightening this ruling was, the Policy Council included a photograph of the couple — a strange and androgynous-looking duo, one with bleached skin and both with mullet haircuts. The couple look so odd (you literally can’t tell whether they are male or female) that one might wonder how any judge could place a young child with such a disturbing-looking duo.

Except the judge didn’t.

The abnormal-looking couple that the Policy Council chose to illustrate this story is not the same couple granted the right to adopt the child.

No, the two-woman couple awarded custody of the 1-year-old — South Florida trade-show executive Vanessa Alenier and her partner, Melanie Leon — look more like J.Crew models: all-American with catalogue clothes and smiles.

The picture that the Policy Council chose was a grotesque caricature.

Grotesque caricature? Of what? I’m not being disingenuous here. I know why the FL Family Policy Council used that photo instead of the real couple. Pretty people are more sympathetic than non-pretty people, and lesbians who don’t resemble stereotypes about lesbians muddle the “gays are different and scary” message. But since when does being non-pretty and having a bad hairdo make you “grotesque”? I’m not sure where Scott’s getting the bleached skin thing from and other than the unflattering haircuts there’s nothing about the pair that would elicit shocked double-takes were they walking around my local Costco. Admittedly, it’s hard to tell the gender of the dark haired one but that’s more a function of the quality of the photo than because the person is freakishly deformed. Honest to God this society is so warped where looks are concerned, especially (of course) with women. Look around you. Most people are not J Crew models and that includes Scott Maxwell, who ain’t all that if you ask me. ScottMaxwell

Now, I realize there are few things that bring straight dudes from across the political spectrum together like an opportunity to bond over the tragedy of non-conventionally attractive women being allowed to show themselves in public. Kumbaya, bros! But I hadn’t realized that physical appearance had so much bearing on one’s parenting ability. Wow. Hopefully judges are aware of this important factor and aren’t carelessly awarding children to aesthetically challenged people!

I told y’all, there’s all kinds of wrong about this story.

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2 Comments

  1. Comment by Eli_Blake on February 5, 2010 8:52 pm

    Ask Duncan Hunter. It’s a hermaphrodite conspiracy.

    I’d agree with you though, the idea that your haircut says anything about whether you can be a good parent is ridiculous in the 21st century. My sister is a lesbian and as a matter of fact she and her wife often do look more like the couple in the picture they used and I’ve made it abundantly clear that if anything were to happen to me and my wife then I want them to finish raising my kids.

  2. Comment by Italiana on February 6, 2010 11:39 pm

    Damn straight! Only pretty straight people should adopt…Oh. Wait. Too many orphans….

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