Gay Parenting, Dobson and TIME Magazine

Yesterday, TIME published a decent-sized article by Dr. James Dobson on his opinion of Mary Cheney (Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter) and her partner's pregnancy.

Read the story

Wow, can you imagine planning to have a child (same-sex couples have to plan, there's no "oops" in these families), investing the money, the time, the physical health in hopes you as a couple can become pregnant and having your motherhood, coupledom and qualifications questioned in TIME magazine by a Christian leader!? Now add you're dad is in the highest political office and his days at the office aren't much fun lately.

Wow! Plastered for the world to see, when you're so excited about this new phase in your family, you're going to have a kid! Then wham-o.

TIME magazine has been very good in handling LGBT issues and allowing Dobson his own article based on inaccurate and non-existent claims about someone else's happiness just blew me away. What right does Dobson have to even want to write this article? Why not do the usual and talk about it over his radio show to his followers, why hit the mainstream? What's he trying to control and possess? Essentially, what's he afraid of that he'd step out like this in TIME and recently on Larry King Live after the Ted Haggard outing? He told Larry he doesn't have the time to help Ted with his struggles (ouch) so apparently he wants more time to rain on other people's parades.

All I know, from our research while making the film, talking to people who've listened to him for years and have been in his circle and with my gut, is that it's always a business strategy and it's ALWAYS fear-based. I'm writing a series of articles (clearly I'm in writing mode...I've been blogging every day lately...I got in trouble with the staff when I didn't...) and one of them is on fear-based versus love-based decision making. It's really amazing and illuminating. I look forward to sharing it with you soon. All the symptoms are in the article of coming from fear to persuade the reader to believe what he's saying.

Anyway, Soulforce is also concerned about the misinformation printed by Dobson in TIME and have started a petition requesting TIME to look into the facts, as it is a very credible journalistic venue and as the fourth wall, the watchdog of the people, we need them to be looking out for us and weighing agenda of the religious right with what's just plain the right thing to do.

From personal experience, I encourage you to not always believe what you read in the media. That's a whole other series of articles...I used to teach media studies at a University for eight years and it's a passion of mine.

We've written a letter to the editor of both the NY Times for the Evangelical article and to TIME. People need to know the struggle and division isn't all drama and pain, there is lots of love and reconciliation if you're looking for it. We focus on what we WANT to happen, not what we DON'T want to happen...what we focus on expands. Ta...