Smith offers take on controversial gay parenting column

UW-Green Bay Prof. Christine Smith weighed in on a controversial Shawano student newspaper column for a story in Sunday’s (Jan. 15) Green Bay Press-Gazette, noting that the recent piece speaking against gay parenting could be harmful for kids — yet a potential motivator for positive action. “High school students are at a time in their life when they are developing intellectually and socially,” said Smith, assistant professor of Human Development. “To see something like this debated in the paper could be devastating. How would you feel if someone said your family is abnormal, is not acceptable, that your parents never should have been allowed to have you, that they’re not suitable to raise you?” Smith also said that while students have the right to voice their opinions, it doesn’t mean they should do so in a school paper. Still, the situation could yield positive outcomes, Smith said, if people are motivated to act. Full story.