I just finished reading The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Get Pregnant by Dan Savage, author of the syndicated sex column Savage Love. I’d read the book before, but recently re-read his book on marriage which discusses their kid quite a lot, and wanted re-read the story of their adoption.
Savage is a great story teller, though he does have a tendency to get into long winded diatribes, all of which I agree with, but can occasionally get confusing in the narrative structure. Their adoption story is fascinating. They decided to go with an open adoption, though fearful that no birth mother would choose a gay couple as the parents of their child. They ended up being chosen quite quickly by a “gutter punk” who had become pregnant while living on the streets. The woman made an incredibly brave choice, and the scene where the normally taciturn Melissa crumbles into a ball of tears when the Dan and his partner leave the hospital with the baby is heart breaking. I don’t know if I could ever make the decision that she did, and certainly never hope to find myself in that situation.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend the book. It’s a quick read, quite funny, and if Savage makes several great arguments in favor of gay rights and turns the words of all the crazy fundamentalists right back at them. Great!
