Woman Raised By Lesbian Mothers Supports Traditional Parenting

Heather Barwick had an exceptional and interesting childhood, when she was raised by two mothers---a real one and an adopted one. Yet, the child of two lesbian mothers does not support single sex parenting. She has shifted from being an activist advocating gay marriage to an opponent, feeling that the traditional family structure works best.

"My mom raised me with her same-sex partner back in the '80s and '90s. She and my dad were married for a little while. She knew she was gay before they got married, but things were different back then," Heather Barwick wrote in an open letter published in the Federalist.  "She left him when I was 2 or 3 because she wanted a chance to be happy with someone she really loved: a woman."

Heather has been living with the two women in a "very liberal and open-minded area" and was treated very well by both women. In contrast, her father "wasn't a great guy," she recalls.

Addressing an LGBT community, the 31-year-old married mother of four recollects her happy childhood and upbringing by her mothers. It had been a lifelong learning experience, she reminisces. From the gays, she has learnt some special life-lessons---empathy, bravery, how to listen to others - and even how to dance. In her 20s, Heather had been an activist fighting for the gay community.

"You taught me not be afraid of things that are different," Barwick wrote. "And you taught me how to stand up for myself, even if that means I stand alone."

Yet, only after her own marriage, and realizing how her children have got exposed to love from their father, can she believe that there is "beauty and wisdom in traditional marriage and parenting," according to theblaze.

"Growing up, and even into my 20s, I supported and advocated for gay marriage," Barwick wrote. "It's only with some time and distance from my childhood that I'm able to reflect on my experiences and recognize the long-term consequences that same-sex parenting had on me."

Without a father or mother, children are deprived of growing up in a traditional family structure and children are told that having two mothers or two fathers is just the same.

"A lot of us, a lot of your kids, are hurting. My father's absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad," she wrote. "I loved my mom's partner, but another mom could never have replaced the father I lost."

Barwick added, "I grew up surrounded by women who said they didn't need or want a man. Yet, as a little girl, I so desperately wanted a daddy."

It has been a mix of different emotions---a yearning for a father, anger against her father who never came round for her, anger against herself for getting angry, and finally a call for a traditional marriage according to blaze.

She explains carefully that is isn't as if lesbians can't be good parents, yet the good family structure is one in which children have parents from both genders. It is a sentiment that she believes "other children of gay parents should also feel free to express."

 "Many of us are too scared to speak up and tell you about our hurt and pain, because for whatever reason it feels like you're not listening. That you don't want to hear," she wrote. "If we say we are hurting because we were raised by same-sex parents, we are either ignored or labeled a hater."

 "It really wasn't until I came to Christ that I felt that burden lifted off of me," she said. "And I'm not bitter. I'm not angry. I forgive my dad."

She has recently signed a letter supporting Dolce & Gabbana, designers for the gay community, after their comments against same-sex adoption went viral.