AE: How do Texas state laws treat gay families? MST: As a whole, I think Texas is behind the times. We've spent some time in San Francisco visiting family there, and the gay population of San Francisco seems a lot more organized than Texas, so therefore they're able to lobby more effectively and their rights seem a lot more advanced than they are here [in Texas]. In Texas, for instance, when Andy and I adopt a child, they won't license us together, of course, because the state won't recognize our relationship. Andy is licensed to adopt. He adopts first, which is the first expense in adopting. Then we have to go back thirty days later and have a second adoption performed so he can give me parental rights so that in case something should happen to one of us, our children are protected. In other words, we have to adopt twice for every child we adopt.
Andy Sutherland-Trevino: At double the expense, of course.
AE: What would you say to the Cheney's if you had the opportunity to speak with them? MST: I'd congratulate them on their new grandchild, first of all. Children are a blessing no matter how they come into the world. But I would really like to get an honest, straightforward answer from him. He's been kind of ambiguous on how he's answered several questions. I read an article yesterday where he told them he just did not want to go there when asked about his daughter, her partner, their child, and how he felt about the whole gay issue. He totally skirted it. Didn't even want to touch it. So I would probably press him on that a little more and see what I could get him to talk about.
AE: How long have you been together? AST: We celebrated 18 years this past November.
AE: Congratulations! AST: Thank you.
AE: Did you always want a large family? Did you start off knowing you wanted children? AST: We always knew we wanted children, but we didn't start this process wanting a lot of children. I think we wanted the typical boy and girl situation, but it was the circumstances that came to us. When we adopted our first two, their little sister was born the next day after we adopted them. We didn't want to split up the family, so we adopted her. Then our fourth, Marcus, we got him when he was about five. He was an older child, and when his parental rights were finally terminated he was about seven or eight, and with his background and age, he would have been left in the system until he aged out at eighteen. Of course, we'd already had him for two or three years, and he was our child as soon as he walked into our home. We couldn't let him go.
And then there's our fifteen year old James. He was a hard-to-place teenager. He was already twelve when he came to us, and he was already identifying himself as gay. His only options were either our house or a strict Christian home. Then, of course, we got a call from California from Mark's niece that her daughter had been taken away and put into foster care. Me and Mark said, well, we've adopted these total strangers, how can we let blood go? That's how we ended up with Layla, Mark's great-niece, and we're waiting for Nathaniel right now, which is Mark's great-nephew. In a nut shell, that's how our family became so large. I don't think it was out of "want," it was more out of totally falling in love with our kids, and their options weren't all that good.
