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Here is an image, via View From the Right (from The Thinking Housewife, under the title "Portrait of a Family") which shows a black/white lesbian couple, with an Asian homosexual sperm donor, and the Asian-looking offspring.
Of course, there is a lot that is horribly wrong with this, as both writers have shown.
What struck me about this "portrait" is the expressions of the three adults.
The black woman looks uncomfortable, as though she's listening to, and following, some command which she does not want to obey, but has no choice in the matter. Why? Can't she delve into some inner morality of hers, dig out those sermons and Bible quotes that she surely must know, and act accordingly? Why are people having such a hard time following moral codes? I think the modern Church, society, culture, civilization, have failed such people, who have only pop culture and T.V. shows to turn to, and which makes them susceptible to aggressively immoral beliefs which they cannot tackle with their deficient systems. Of course, an obvious question would be why she couldn't find a black man, a black husband, to make a normal family with. I think black women have beaten down (or spoilt - just the other side of the coin) black men so much that even a few good black men are hard to find. Instead of being bitter, and turning lesbian, this is the time to rebuild that culture, not to destroy it further.
The white, butch-looking woman looks strangely satisfied with this menage she's acquired. She has no qualms about her "situation." Her protective hand over the Asian man shows she will be there to defend it all. She stands tall and proud, guarding her "family."
The Asian man looks shell-shocked but happy. He is the center of attention, along with the baby which he's "fathered." It is ironic that this lesbian couple would put a man as their focal point (in this picture, at least). But, he's not really a man, being a deviant homosexual. He seems less certain than the butch woman, but a little more stubborn (in his thoughts and ideas) than the black woman. The women have conceded to him holding the baby (because he's the "father," because he'll have to give it up soon anyway?). It makes sense aesthetically (photographers have a tendency to think in those terms), since it looks more (just) like him.
There was a time when we would run away, no, cast out, such freaks from our societies. Now, they get to pose for national newspapers.
And the baby's name is significant. For one, it is the name of a slave girl in a Turkish Sultan's harem in Mozart's unfinished opera of the same name. Here is a synopsis of the opera:
In Turkey, the Sultan Soliman has European slaves in his seraglio (Das Serail, the alternative title); two of them, Zaide and Gomatz, are in love, but the complication is that Soliman also has his eye on Zaide. The lovers ask their overseer Allazim (who is also a slave) to help them escape, and he eventually agrees to provide a boat for them. In Act 2 the runaways are brought back to face the Sultan's wrath. Allazim is also put in chains, but he tells Soliman that he once saved his life: as the commander of a Venetian ship he rescued Soliman from pirates, but he himself was taken into slavery. Allazim is pardoned immediately, but the Sultan is deaf to his plea for the escapees. And that is where it ends! However, an ending is provided on the recording I have (Orfeo 1983): Allazim inspires Soliman to show compassion, and the Sultan releases them, saying, "not only Europe, but also Asia can produce virtuous souls".But I doubt that this mother has any love for Western culture, and least of all for a classical Western composer like Mozart. And would she even know about this relatively unknown opera? She'd rather give the baby a foreign-sounding, exotic name, burdening it with one more oddity it has to grow up with: A name which she believes has no real resemblance to the British culture it was born into. But at the rate things are going there, such "oriental" sounding names will be the norm, and "families" like this are making sure it will happen sooner than later.
But did Mozart get it wrong? Is the name for a female or a male? Searching on the web, I found several sources that translate Zaide as a Yiddish grandfather. Here is one:
Zayde/zaide (n.)But there are others which translate the name as Jewish for male or female elder. Other sources give the name Arabic origins (surplus, to grow), so it could be both male or female in Arabic also. Mozart's Zaide, which one would assume is a Turkish slave, is actually a European slave according to various write-ups of the opera, and this must be a euphemism for a European Jew in Mozart's era. So much for naming a baby.
Grandfather: My zayde taught me how to throw a baseball.