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Original poster

passort office erasing mother and father for parent1/2

99 replies

sydneyc · 07/10/2011 11:00

What do other parents think of the passport office changing all passports to show parent one and two instead of mother and father. When they already recognise same sex couples who adopt, who does this law make it easier for.
I am a proud mother of three and i want my passport and my kids passport to reflect that, not show me as parent 1 i am a mother first .
This change apparently is being brought in from lobbying gay rights group surely this is another step too far?

OP posts:
ImpYCelyn · 07/10/2011 11:03

I think it's a great idea actually. Mother and father do have connotations attached to them. DH travelled with DS recently and the passport chap was really aggressive with him, said DS shouldn't be travelling without his mother. I think that's a stupid attitude, but if we were all just parents hopefully we could lose that kind of gender stereotyping.

BarbarianMum · 07/10/2011 11:06

I would be deeply unbothered by this. It' just a piece of paper not a judgment on which/what sort of parent I am.

AMumInScotland · 07/10/2011 11:18

Well, I don't think same sex parents should have to choose which to describe as "mother" and which as "father", so two slots for "parents" sounds fine to me.

There is no fundamental reason why a "mother" is different from a "father" apart from physically giving birth and breastfeeding, which won't have happened with adoptions anyway.

So "parent1" and "parent2" are fine in my view.

CMOTdibbler · 07/10/2011 11:22

Sounds like a perfectly sensible change to me

FearTricksPotter · 07/10/2011 11:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tabulahrasa · 07/10/2011 11:23

I don't have an issue with it - except, how do you decide who gets to be parent 1? Lol

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 07/10/2011 11:24

It doesn't bother me really.

lec0rnsillk · 07/10/2011 11:25

I don't care

TipOfTheSlung · 07/10/2011 11:28

It depends if they change it so that the father (in m/f) always ends up being put as parent 1 or not as seems to happen with so many other applications

StellaAndFries · 07/10/2011 11:29

Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Bucharest · 07/10/2011 11:34

I think you have too much time on your hands, and are possibly a leeeeetle bit prejudiced about non-nuclear-one-wife-one-husband families.

EllaDee · 07/10/2011 11:39

I think it could be really sensible - my DB and SIL found recently that, where tehy are, you have to nominate one parent as teh person who doesn't need proof from the other parent to travel with a baby. It's dead useful to be able to nominate, say, dad as 'parent 1' in that situation. Maybe this is similar, I don't know?

Original poster
sydneyc · 07/10/2011 11:43

This is a slow eroding of parental rights bring brought about by the same government who claim to be supporting family values when clearly they are not !

OP posts:
HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 07/10/2011 11:45

Parents don't have rights. They have responsibilities. Children have rights.

HTH

shesparkles · 07/10/2011 11:46

This bugs me, I gave birth to them, I'm their MOTHER.
I'm liberal and tolerant about anything else but why don't I have the right to have the title which is a legal fact, that of mother

Original poster
sydneyc · 07/10/2011 11:50

I am not prejudiced against non nuclear familes as i was brought up by a single parent but my objection is the erosion of the family, ie mother and father, same sex familes are already recognised by the passport office so why does the goverment feel the need to introduce this change ?, and no i do not have too much time on my hands.
When you are no longer classed as a family and you as a mother /father have no say in anything to do with your children ( extreme example but just imagine) don't complain because you had the choice and decided to sit on the fence.

OP posts:
minervaitalica · 07/10/2011 11:52

Eh? And why would that bother anyone? I am a mother full stop - I do not need a passport to "validate" my position.

Original poster
sydneyc · 07/10/2011 11:52

thank you shesparkles somebody who actually understands what i am talking about !

OP posts:
PeggyCarter · 07/10/2011 11:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MarginallyNarkyPuffin · 07/10/2011 11:54

You do realise that they are just changing words on paper. They're not actually going to make you get divorced and shack up with an accountant called Sophie from Leamington Spa?

AMumInScotland · 07/10/2011 11:55

I don't see how this erodes anybody's parental rights. It merely changes the labelling, not the authority which either parent has.

Would you expect a same sex couple to have to decide which of them gets called "wife" and which gets called "husband" if they have a civil partnership ceremony? Most people would say it would be inappropriate to force them to label themselves in a way which is based on heterosexuality.

So why should two parents in a same sex couple have to label themselves as the "mother" and "father" of the child(ren)?

BluddyMoFo · 07/10/2011 11:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GypsyMoth · 07/10/2011 11:56

Just because people don't agree with you doesn't mean they don't understand!

PeggyCarter · 07/10/2011 11:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nickelbabe · 07/10/2011 11:57

I think the only way this could become an issue is if they always put the male as the parent 1 (in a m/f family).
They should put as Parent 1 whoever is listed as Parent 1 by the person filling in the form (which would be me in our family and i'm the female)