define family

I was reminded the other day that as a gay person my family is just a little different than other families. The wife called to make dentist appointments for two of our children. She had all the info she needed insurance, social security numbers, dates of birth. She was told that the biological mother or the legal guardian would have to be with the children for their first visit to sign paper work. She was then told she would not be able to bring the kids alone???? WTF she is there other mother or step-mother or whatever you want to call her. The receptionist said that since we were not legal that I would have to attend the appt. I know this should not be a big deal, but it is to me. I feel like I am being discriminated against. I think is sucks that any to straight people can get married and then they get to make decisions for each other’s kids yet my wife can’t. Don’t even get me started on the fact that I cannot make any decisions for our baby because I am not the bio mom or the adoptive mom. In the state of Ohio the only way I can adopt my son is if the wife give up her rights to him. Now tell me why that would make any sense. In this day and age when so many kids need loving homes why is it that the powers that be want to make it hard on gay families. God forbid if something happens to the wife, I would not be the next of kin for our child. I would have to petition the court for custody, and even though we have all the legal document that say I get custody and that I am the one the wife wants to raise our son if the courts decided that I was not the person they think should raise him they could take him from me. Any of the wife’s relatives would have a better chance of getting custody of my son than I would because they are related to him. Again tell me why it would make sense to take my son from the home he is in to place him with total strangers, It wouldn’t but most courts don’t see it that way. Now I know that the laws will change as people’s attitudes change and that someday we will live in a society where we are not judged by who we love, but explain to me why until that time we have to define family in a way that hurts the kids of loving families like mine.