Hey, Cathy Ruse, you are a parent

Cathy Ruse is angry because the government is calling her a parent.

I mean, she is a parent. She has children. It is not an inaccurate term. But what she's bugging out about is the fact that on federal government forms they eliminated the terms "mother" and "father" for "parent 1" and "parent 2".

As a mother, I find that deeply offensive. I carried my children for 9 months in my womb, I endured the pain (and joy) of birth, I nursed them for many months after they were born, and every morning they jump into my bed screaming, “Mommy!”
But the federal government says I’m Mommy no more.
I am Parent 1.
Or maybe Parent 2.
Kind of like Thing One and Thing Two. But Dr. Seuss was being ironic.
Mr. President, I dare you to tell my daughters I’m not their mother.

For the love of Batman.

Look.This is clearly one of the dumbest rants ever. Just because you are called a parent on a form instead of mother it does not mean that your daughters are not allowed to call you Mommy. Is this a thing you actually believe? That a change on federal forms means that you no longer can have that title? I am serious,because if this is what you really think this will lead to then there is no point in arguing about it. It's like trying to convince the homeless guy in the park that he doesn't have a CIA implant in his head. You can't argue with crazy.

But I somehow doubt that Ruse believed this. She is expressing the righteous indignation of how terrible it is that the world is changing. You can file this in the same folder with people who bitch about how they shouldn't have to press one for English. It doesn't really make a difference for you and makes life easier for other people.

And that, really, is the problem. It isn't that Ruse cares about being parent instead of Mother. It's that this will make life better for same sex couples who have two Moms or two Dads. Or when a Grandparent is raising a child. Or those other many types of families that now exist where it is Dad and Step-Dad or Mom and Step-Dad or Jo and Mary instead of Mom and Dad.

When she sees Parent 1 instead of Mother it reminds Ruse that there are other types of families in the world. and those families are just as legitimate as her family. That's what pisses her off. Not that she is a parent (because, technically speaking, she was always a parent, Mother is just what we call the female parent) but that her status as parent is no greater than a same-sex parent or any other non-traditional parent.

I'm appalled at how many rants against GBLT issues come down to someone being upset that the fact they were born straight and cisgendered will no longer gain them some type of special place in society.