News that the state Senate has approved a bill replacing “mother” and “father” with “gestating parent” and “non-gestating parent” in state law has sparked strong reactions across Long Island. The South Shore Press hit the streets to hear what residents had to say.
“Gestating parent? That’s the most insulting thing I ever heard. You’re only here because of your mother and father, and they deserve the respect of being called mom and dad. This is the breakdown of the family unit. They don’t like America and our society and this is how they’re trying to tear it apart.” — Rosalie Hanson, Middle Island
“We celebrated Mother’s Day. Do we now change that to ‘Gestating Parents’ Day’? Father’s Day is coming up. Do we change that to ‘Non-Gestating Parent Day’? How absurd is this? It is absolutely nuts. They’re pandering to the crazies.” — Senator Dean Murray, East Patchogue
“These legislators know exactly what they’re doing, and it’s diabolical. This comes directly from the Socialist playbook: make people change their language, divorce them from the nuclear family that values mothers and fathers, and then promote government as the answer to all of their problems. Next is religion, which they’re already working on. This is what they do in the People’s Republic of China and North Korea: Democratic Socialism first, then Communism. God help us if they succeed.” — Desiree Glock, Centereach
“They don’t want people beholden to family. They don’t want people beholden to God. They want people beholden to the government they control. This is all well planned. People’s identities should be wiped out, and everybody should just fall in line. This Communist theory has never worked, and it will never work.—Bryan Nadler, Mastic
“Don’t these people have anything better to do? We pay the highest taxes in America, crime is up thanks to their policies, and they opened the door to thousands of illegal immigrants who cost us billions. Why don’t the Democrats in the Legislature focus on that? We have an affordability crisis, and they just increased the budget by $14 billion. What’s going on in Albany is insane.” — Steve Brown, East Setauket