Gayby Baby
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Gayby Baby

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“Won’t somebody please think of the children?” is the hysterical of The Simpsons’ Helen Lovejoy. It’s a sentiment echoed by those who object to same-sex parenting – how will the children be affected? The obvious answer, as revealed by the Australian crowd-sourced documentary Gayby Baby, is that same-sex parenting will have the same hurdles and triumphs experienced by any parents and children. The only additional challenge is dealing with discrimination from others.

 

Gayby Baby takes the perspective of four children. Gus, Ebony, Matt and Graham have much in common, such as being intelligent and articulate, but what links them in this film is that they have all being raised by same-sex parents. Graham is a late learner who is having issues with reading comprehension and needs to filter his home-life situation due to the familys relocation to Fiji. On the surface, Ebonys story has little to do with being raised by same-sex parents, aside from the potential that one performing arts school may be more liberal than the other she has the pressure of performing and living up to high expectations. Matt’s resistance to follow God has something to do with the way his parents’ same sex relationship is frowned on my the church, but just a bit. More so, it’s a product of the child’s growing independence, balancing a respect for his mother’s beliefs with sticking firm to his own atheist logic. And Gus, well, he just likes wrestling a bit too much.

 

So, the majority of the film follows kids facing similar issues to any other kids, and if they are faced with discrimination whether it be a resistant Julia Gillard or a shop girl chiding a boy for trying on lipstick they deal with it in a way that reveals them as well-adjusted and mature individuals. This is a topical subject, one explored in a clear, accessible way by director Maya Newell, but the hope would be that, in the near future, we would not have to explore why one good parent is being judged differently to another good parent simply due to their sexuality. The kids are alright.

 

BY CHRIS GIRDLER