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Celebrating Pride: Celebrity parents we love
'Tis the season! Here are some of our favourite celebrity parents in the LGBTQ community.
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Neil Patrick Harris
"This is a sore subject because we are two gentlemen with children. And so we didn't know what to call ourselves. Daddy One and Daddy Two sound kind of strange... So David's 'Daddy' and I'm 'Poppa,' just to differentiate."
Neil Patrick Harris, 39, and David Burtka are dads to twins Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, born October 12, 2010, via surrogate.
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Jillian Michaels
"We’re swimming in babies over here.... I don’t even answer email. I don’t have time to care about anything else.... I want to be really present and enjoy all the nuances of their growth and development. I don’t want to rush any of it.”
Celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels, 38, and her partner, Heidi Rhoades, 31, are moms to Lukensia, 2, whom they adopted from Kenya, and Phoenix, born the week they adopted Lukensia, on May 3rd, 2012.
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Clay Aiken
"I have no idea if he'll be gay or straight. It's not something I'll have anything to do with, or that he'll have anything to do with. It's already probably up inside the code there.... No matter what the situation you're in, if you're raised in a loving environment, that's the most important thing."
Clay Aiken, 33, is dad to Parker Foster Aiken, born August 8, 2008, via in vitro fertilization with his friend, music producer Jaymes Foster.
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Wanda Sykes
"At first, I didn’t even think they knew that the other one existed. They would kind of look at each other like, “Who the hell is that?” It was not that immediate. Now they call each other, I don’t know what they’re saying, but she calls him khaki for some reason, and he just calls her blurbeluh. Seriously, it’s always blurbeluh? And she knows he’s talking to her. He takes everything that she has, and she cries, and she knows it works. They’re just starting that plot to kill us both."
Wanda Sykes, 48, and her wife, Alex, are moms to twins Olivia Lou and Lucas Claude, to whom Alex gave birth in May 2008.
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Cynthia Nixon
"Our community is not a monolith, thank goodness, any more than America itself is. I look forward to and will continue to work toward the day when America recognizes all of us as full and equal citizens."
Cynthia Nixon, 46, and her new wife, Christine Marinoni, 45, are moms to Max Ellington Nixon-Marinoni, born February 8, 2011. Cynthia also has two kids from her former, 15-year relationship with photographer Danny Mozes.
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Elton John
"For many years we have talked about fulfilling one of our greatest wishes by becoming parents. And now this wish has been granted to us, we feel so blessed and lucky."
Elton John, 65, and his husband David Furnish, 49, are dads to Zachary, born December 25, 2010, via surrogate, 1.5.
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Jane Lynch
"It had to be a very special child for me to want to be a parent - and she is. My parenting instincts are lacking, but my wife is a wonderful mother, so thank God I'm not expected to do the bulk of the parenting. I'm not even expected to do 50 per cent of it, because she is so good. It's wonderful, though, and it's a part of myself I never expected to know."
Jane Lynch, 51, is stepmom to wife Dr. Lara Embry's daughter, Hayden, 10.
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Ricky Martin
“I’m your father and your mother. All families are different. There are families without fathers and some without mothers. There’s nothing to feel bad about. Many great leaders grew up without fathers or mothers, Obama, Clinton.... I’ll tell [my sons] the truth. I’ll show them pictures of her."
Ricky Martin, 40, and his partner, Carlos González Abella, are dads to Matteo and Valentino, born August 2008, via surrogate.
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Melissa Etheridge
"There’s a place of balance within themselves — and within every human being. There’s a place of calm, peaceful, perfect vibration and balance. As my kids make choices in how they react to life, that place will either vibrate peacefully with a loving choice or will feel bad with a fearful choice. And if they always use the little barometer inside of them – that little gauge – then they can live a peaceful and fearless life."
"Come to My Window" singer Melissa Etheridge, 48, is mom to Bailey Jean, 15, and Beckett, 12, with ex-partner Julie Cypher, and to 5-year-old twins, Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven, with ex-partner Tammy Lynn Michaels.
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Rufus Wainwright
"Seriously, it's a lovely turn of events. It all coincided with my mother's death, and I can't totally vouch for my sanity at that time, but I did wake up and I have this beautiful daughter to help me through. And I thank her mother very much for giving me that."
Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright, 38, and his partner, Jörn Weisbrodt, are dads to Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen, along with mom, Lorca Cohen (Leonard Cohen's daughter). Lorca gave birth to Viva on February 2, 2011.
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Sara Gilbert
"Your whole social life becomes not that social [when you have kids]. Your world really does revolve around them much more. I wouldn’t trade it for anything but it’s certainly different. You love so much deeper and that love is just unbelievable."
Roseanne alum and The Talk cohost/creator, Sara Gilbert, 37, is mom to Levi, 7, and Sawyer, 4, with her ex-partner of 10 years, Alison Adler.
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Rosie O'Donnell
"Tracy has six kids, she lives next door.... Her oldest is out of the house. So it's nine total. It's a lot! We're the Gay-dy Bunch!"
Rosie O'Donnell, 50, is mom to Parker Jaren (born 1995), Chelsea Belle (born 1997), and Blake Christopher (born 1999) — whom she adopted with ex-partner Kelli Carpenter — and to Vivienne Rose (conceived via artificial insemination), born 2002 to Kelli.
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Candice (not verified) says ....
Thank you Today's Parent for posting this and promoting the equal rights of homosexuals. :) I loved seeing all these loving parents!
BeKind says ....
Rosiere and Lena, I respect your views and obvious strong feelings about homosexuality. However, are you able in any way to see that your statements would be felt to be hateful and discriminatory to someone who is gay? I'm straight but I have many gay friends and they are wonderful human beings who, like you, deserve respect for who they are. Your orientation is not a choice just like the colour of your skin or the shape of your eyes. Would it be ok to say that being Black or Chinese is not something to celebrated? If that feels in any way wrong to you then I urge you to consider how your statements might feel to someone who is simply who they were born to be. And finally, consider this: what if one of your children is gay? Will you wound them with the judgement that something is fundamentally wrong with them? Or will you find it in your heart to embrace them as a whole person who, despite being something that is not right for you, is still your wonderful child who needs you and your unconditional love.
rosiere (not verified) says ....
@Lena & @Haley Overland
thanks for promoting these values online!spot on! its become rare to read anything on good values in today's world and that some mothers out there still strongly believe that a marriage is only between a man and a woman; and conceiving, pro-creation is only a miracle from God.
Lena Kloosterman (not verified) says ....
Being gay is not something to be celebrated. Gay marriage is not something to be celebrated. It is not what God intended for mankind.
Haley Overland says ....
You are right. Thank you for that! :)
Proudcanadiangirl (not verified) says ....
There is an error with this description of Rosie's children. Her partners name when she had Vivian was actually Kelly Carpenter not Tracy Kachtick-Anders.