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Dad Gone?

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mushroom25 | 18:53 Mon 28th May 2012 | News
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http://www.telegraph....same-sex-couples.html

the latest re-write of the NHS new parent leaflet was allegedly occasioned by a single complaint.

was this the right thing to do - are same-sex couples likely to feel excluded by the word "dad"? or is this a case of cash squandered in the name of an imagined issue?
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missnemesis

I've tried to explain this before. If you had a lesbian friend and and were introduced to her partner, would you call her the 'husband'?

No, you'd use the word 'partner'.

Similarly, if you were introduced to the male companion of a female friend, you wouldn't call him her husband or boyfriend, you would use the word 'partner' until you had some verification.

On official forms, we should not assume the sex of someone's partner. By using the word 'Dad', we do.

By using the word 'partner' we can be 100% accurate in assigning a relationship to someone.
> would you call her the 'husband'?

No, you'd use the word 'partner'. <

Would I?
Hang on - if you had a lesbian mate, who introduced you to her partner, you would refer to her as 'the husband'?

Really?

Hang on - you're pulling my leg, right? It feels like I've had a senseofhumourectomy.
Perhaps the lesbian is offended by the word partner and would prefer girlfriend. Or, for that matter, wife.

There was no reason for this to be changed other than to salve the outrage of a tiny minority.

I dislike the term partner, and would cringe if I was referred to as a partner.
flip_flop

Again - you're using words like 'outrage'. That's too dailymailish. You have no reason to assume that the person in this case merely made a suggestion.

If you worked with a woman who preferred to be referred to as Ms Wilson, rather than Miss Wilson, would you say that she was outraged by you using a term she didn't like?
Flip_flop

Why should numbers matter anyway.

If you saw a pamphlet which referred to a woman's partner as 'partner' it would not in any way be factually incorrect, right?

If however, you were a woman in a relationship with another woman, and you saw your partner referred to a the 'father of the child', that would be inaccurate. Changing to the catch-all 'partner' is the easy way to ensure accuracy across the board...because if you call your other half your wife, missus, boyfriend, girlfriend, ball and chain...the word 'partner' is still 100% accurate.

When you think of it like that, doesn't it make sense?
OK, fair enough - for the sake of the argument let's say the (reported) single person merely made a suggestion.

Quite apart from the arrogance of the single person who suggested the change on behalf of everybody else, that fact remains that the majority of children are born to a husband and wife - and as a husband I would object to being called a partner.

But how I prefer to be known is largely irrelevant - what is relevant is that the change was made at all when there was no need to make the change, cost or no cost.
I know in the great scheme of things this is, let's face it, pretty bloody petty, but I just don't get change for change sake.
flip_flop

Actually - and this may shock you, but I'm fairly sure that most children in the UK are now borne of parents who AREN'T married.

Which bolsters the 'partner' argument further.
@sp1814

The "Would I?" was in response to your incredibly presumptuous statement that you KNEW which word I would or would not use given your lesbian and heterosexual scenarios.

How do you know which words I would choose to use? Have you been in my company during said scenario and heard what I had to say? No.

At no point did I say I would ever refer to a lesbian as a 'husband' - that's simply ridiculous and you are merely twisting things to suit your own agenda.

Now there's a surprise.
Blimey - I'm flabbergasted (although perhaps I shouldn't be!).
missnemisis

I may be wrong, but I think we're saying the same thing, but from diametrically opposing angles.

My presumption comes from assuming people wouldn't use deliberately inaccurate terms for lesbian and/or heterosexual partnerships.
Sadly, husbands and wives are now in a minority.

That's happened within my lifetime. I agree - its pretty shocking (I recall the scandal that whipped around our estate back in the early 70s when one of my Mum's friend's daughter got pregnant without being married - it was a HUGE news story).
Mum, Dad, Husband, Wife , and the small minority can call themselves whatever they want.
Brenden

This isn't about how people refer to themselves, but how the state refers to us.
Let them alter their forms as I do sp - when it states partner I cross it out and put husband.
As would I Brenden, as would I.

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