- COMMUNITY
- CULTURE
- FAMILY
- LIFE
- NEWS & POLITICS
- BLOG DIRECTORY
- TTC: Trying to Conceive
- Babies & Toddlers (0-2yrs)
- Kids (3-9yrs)
- Tweens, Teens, & Grown Kids (10yrs +)
- Adoptive Families
- Allies & Extended Family
- Bi Families
- Familia
- Families of Color & Interracial Families
- Femme-Butch & Genderqueer
- Foster Families
- Gay Dads
- Global Families
- Grandparents
- Multiples
- Non-Birth Parents
- People & Pets
- Single Parents
- Special Needs
- Trans Parents
- Children of LGBT Parents
Community / News from the community
Posted by Cheryl Dumesnil and Alan Shannon
on September 27, 2007 at 9:36 AM
Author: Cheryl Dumesnil and Alan Shannon
A freelance writer and writing coach, Cheryl Dumesnil likes nothing more than laughing at the crazy things her kids say. Her books include a memoir, Love Song for Baby X: How I Stayed (Almost) Sane on the Rocky Road to Parenthood; a collection of poems, In Praise of Falling; the anthology Hitched! Wedding Stories from San Francisco City Hall; and the anthology Dorothy Parker’s Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos, co-edited with Kim Addonizio. When she’s not writing or teaching, Cheryl’s hiking, yoga-ing, begging her children to stop the potty talk please, or trying to toss pop flies, without tearing her rotator cuff. Check her out at CherylDumesnil.com.
Cheryl Dumesnil
Alan Shannon
Leave a Reply Cancel
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Get the VQ Newsletter
- Sondra: I think they chose to stay in the beach house together becau…
- Reggie: It’s so nice to find excellent content like this these…
- Cheyenne: That's a subtle way of thniking about it.…
- Chelsea Moss: If you're having Snow Miser I'm having Mr Heat Blister! I wa…
- Marissa Anderson: I consider myself an ally because I will quickly and fearles…
- Rita: I love love love this show! All the different characters wi…
Popular Posts
- Is that a boy?
67 comments - Just Married
42 comments - My bachelorette party at SalonLGBTQ
29 comments - Vlogging Like We've Never Vlogged Before
27 comments - Lesbian Couple Sues Sperm Bank after Conceiving Biracial Child
26 comments - Is Taylor Swift Gay?
26 comments
Archives
Categories
Featured Family Portraits
Tag your pics #villageq to be included in the family album at our Instagram page!
I thought I’d contribute a bit of Biblical support for lesbian families from my blog href=”http://schmitzblitz.wordpress.com”>Schmitz Blitz
It’s a bit long, but I find the Book of Ruth to be an inspiring story of lesbians and their families (be sure to check out Ruth’s pledge to Naomi, which I link to below)
Cory Tucholski from Josiah Concept Ministries has challenged my interpretation of the book of Ruth. My response is as follows:
I will grant you that my initial post on the Book of Ruth lacked depth. Though I also feel that you present a somewhat naïve interpretation yourself, as you fail to address the language and the context of the Biblical story.
First order in supporting my claim that Naomi and Ruth had a potentially romantic relationship, I would like to look at a specific bit of language found in the Book of Ruth. Ruth (1:14) states that “Ruth clung to [Naomi]”. The usage of the verb to cling is significant in that it is found in Genesis to describe the relationship between Adam and Eve. Genesis (2:24) reads: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Thus it would seem in using this common language, that the relationship between Naomi and Ruth was similar to that of Adam and Eve.
Now to look at the context of the verse. You claim, “Ruth is Naomi’s daughter-in-law. I really don’t see a romantic relationship developing between these two women.” You are correct that that the women were mother and daughter in law, but I don’t understand how you can make the stretch from there that this means they could not be lovers. The Bible is full of passages about romantic relationships that we would not consider kosher in our modern world.
For example, the story of Judah and Tamar from Genesis 38, in which Tamar becomes pregnant by her father-in-law Judah. Like Ruth, Tamar was drawn to her dead husband’s parent after a string of failed levirate marriages.
You also question how Naomi and Ruth could possibly be lovers if Naomi helped Ruth marry Boaz. Again, you overlook other Bible passages in which people have intimate relationships with more than one person for the sake of carrying on a lineage. This is true of Abraham and Hagar, Jacob and his wives, David and Bathsheeba, etc.
Lineage was extremely important in Bible, as I’m sure you are aware. The Elimelech lineage, to which Naomi belonged, would have come to an end with the death Naomi’s sons (Ruth’s husbands). In order to continue that lineage, which would eventually produce both King David and Jesus, either Naomi or Ruth would have to have a child, and at that time, a man was the only way to do that.
And of course, marrying a person of the opposite sex does not preclude one from being gay, as the stories of Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, et. al painfully reveal.
I believe the passages referring to the birth of Obed are also significant in that they show how Naomi and Ruth share parenthood with Obed. Ruth (4:16-17) reads, “Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.”
Obed’s father Boaz is a minimal figure—pretty much that of a sperm donor. The passage clearly reveals that Naomi is a more important parental figure to Obed than Boaz. It seems that Naomi is playing the role of the non-biological mother that you see in modern lesbian families. Of course that is a difficult connection to make, given the different era and lack of further Biblical text, but it does not seem as far fetched as you would have it.