| family of the month :: the Calhoun family We're the Calhoun family, Rob (38), Clay (39), our daughter, Rainey (5), and son, Jimmy (almost 2) from Georgia! We jointly adopted both of our beloved children at birth. Rob is the stay-at-home parent in our family. Clay advocated on his job for same-sex spousal insurance so Rob could be home with our children under our family benefits, and he advocated for adoption assistance which also helped our family. We fell in love in 1992 as gay activists in Queer Nation Atlanta protesting the anti-gay Cracker Barrel restaurants. We got married at the 1993 March on Washington (and took the same last name) and got legally married in Massachusetts in 2004 when marriage became available. Ever since our first wedding, we've always referred to each other as husband and husband and as a proud gay married couple. We enjoyed being just a couple for ten years and then having kids changed our lives forever in the best way possible. It's so wonderful being a family of four with the two most amazing kids, and we love our children more than life itself. Rob is Daddy and Clay is Dad.
We adopted our children from the same birthmother who handpicked us (along with her family) to be the parents when she had two unintended pregnancies, and we witnessed our children being born in the hospital. We chose an open adoption so our children would know their birth families and why they chose us to become their parents. We were the second couple to jointly adopt in the Atlanta area. Rainey and Jimmy are the most loving children, ever. God has blessed us with Rainey and Jimmy. The love we give and receive from them is so deep and profound; it's beautiful! Our kids also totally adore each other! We've been long-term family, adoption and marriage equality activists involved in various organizations and have been featured speaking out in many articles and news programs about gay adoption and marriage equality. We enjoy being advocates and standing up for equality for ALL families; it's very important to us. Most important to us, of course, are our children. We're so happy to be such a close and loving family!
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