Offsprung > Mombian » Clay Aiken a Gay Dad

by Dana Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Clay Aiken a Gay Dad

Clay Aiken Quick: How many famous gay dads can you name? For me, the answer is “Not many.” While even many straight people can reel off at least a few names of famous lesbian moms, starting with Melissa Etheridge and Rosie O’Donnell (if not the whole list of Most Powerful Lesbian Moms in America), I think most folks would be hard pressed to name any well-known gay men who are fathers.

Singer Clay Aiken, however, now gives us at least one name to put on the list: his own. The American Idol runner-up announced the birth of his son, Parker Foster Aiken, on August 8. He came out in this month’s People magazine, saying, “It was the first decision I made as a father. I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”

Bravo!

Aiken is also a born-again Christian. Seems to me he has a better understanding of what Christianity means than many others who profess an equally strong faith.

Aiken had the child with his best friend and music producer, Jaymes Foster. I wish the new family much happiness. No word yet on whether the boy’s hairstyle will go through as many transformations as his dad’s, or if Simon Cowell has sent a baby gift.

(Photo credit: Judy Butler, via Wikipedia. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License (cc-by-sa-2.0). )

Tags: clay aiken

Filed under Entertainment, Family Creation, Selves and Identities.

Tell us what you think!

floor pie (34 days ago)

I was very happy to see this. Hopefully this will help put a human face on gay parenting for Aiken's largely mainstream audience.

And it's always good to see Christians speaking up to contradict the loudest, angriest culture-war voices that claim to speak for Christianity itself.

Good for him.

Mama to tha Max (34 days ago)

Aiken should be commended. I'm not a Christian but it warms my heart to Aiken showing that Christianity and Homosexuality are not mutually exclusive.

just visiting (34 days ago)

re: gay dads--does Dan Savage count as famous?

Dana (34 days ago)

My opinion is that Savage is famous within the LGBT community, perhaps even the progressive community as a whole, but doesn't have the kind of national recognition among mainstream America to put him on the same level as Clay, Melissa, or Rosie. But yes, I'd probably put him on the list, if I was compiling one, if only because of the dearth of real A-Listers.

Diane47 (34 days ago)

I'd put Dan Savage in the sex-positive community rather than the LGBT community (do you read his column?). He has become the go-to guy on lots of sexual issues and I've seen him in other publications (both web and paper) than the Stranger. He has what, 3 books out now, including the one about becoming a gay dad?

Sure, there is a dearth of A-listers but Dan Savage would belong on it even if there were many...

Dana (34 days ago)

I mean no slight to Savage and his accomplishments; from where I sit, however, he still doesn't have the same kind of universal recognition as Rosie O'Donnell. Again, though, I'd happily place him on a list of famous gay dads, without quibbling about levels of celebrity.

Dana (34 days ago)

A reader on my other site reminded me that Esera Tuaolo, former NFL defensive tackle, is also a gay dad. Perhaps not a household name, especially since he's retired from playing, but still, he played in the Super Bowl.

kommishoner (34 days ago)

BD Wong! i love that guy!

mcglory13 (34 days ago)

See, I too love BD Wong, but I had no idea he was gay or a dad (his sexuality had never crossed my mind at all). So I guess that kind of proves Dana's point some.

Mommagrrl (34 days ago)

We have one high profile gay male couple in our community who became parents to an infant daughter last year, and I think another is working on having a baby, so at least here in this somewhat stodgy area, we are seeing more gay male parents.