The New American Family: An upcoming book by photographer and sociologist Jo Moser is challenging the ideals of what it is to be a family today. Here mothers Melissa and Julie with their biological daughter Adia
Commentary by: Gordon King
This is what is happening in our world today folks. The changing of society, norms, values and morals. The “Gay Agenda” is on the march, pushing it’s way into every aspect of our lives. This is just the beginning. The next thing will be the persecution of Christians and the church for not accepting these values. Heed my warning and wake up America! God will judge this nation as he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
(SOURCE) As a lesbian trying to conceive children with her girlfriend in the early 1970’s, photographer and sociologist Jo Moser was aware of the dangers she faced.
‘It was 1972 and you had to be very careful about who you shared your information with – it was for your own safety,’ she said.
‘We ended up (getting pregnant) in a very relaxed fashion, I guess you could say. A friend brought around the sperm and we inseminated ourselves at home.’
Jump ahead 40 years and Moser has two adult children with her partner Nicole – Melina, 30, and Theo, 27 – and is now photographing the weddings of friends and others in the state of Maine, which legalized gay marriage in December.
Many of Moser’s subjects have waited their whole lives for the right to say ‘I do’.
‘Over the years the family structure has had a huge transformation; not that long ago it was shocking for white and black people to be married, let alone gay people,’ Moser said.
‘Families now are so much more fluid.
Snapshot: Mother Madeline is raising her children – daughter Efi and son Mason – by herself
Love: An openly gay man carries his granddaughter during the Southern Maine Pride Parade and Festival
Cause for applause: Ben, a psychotherapist from Wisconsin, is a stay-at-home dad looking after his biological son Oscar
‘Fluid in a sense that family is a group of people who choose to be together to love and support each other.
‘We now have a flexibility about who we love and who we want to be with – it’s all about choice.’
And with that, Moser has chosen to put a book together collating the photos she has taken of families and couples over the last few years as a representation of what the American family looks like today.
This family establishes itself across lines and defies definition.
Having been together over 20 years, Julie and Karen were legally wed in June after gay marriage was legalized in Maine
‘Historic’: Steven Bridges and Michael Snell were the first couple to be officially married in Maine after state law was changed to allow same sex marriage in December 2012
Two teenage girls pose for a photo before their prom in South Portland. They attended as a couple
The focus however is not limited to gay parent families.
‘A lot of factors have contributed to getting us to this point – education, economics, immigrant, cultural changes,’ Moser said.
‘There’s an openness and mobility to relationships today. We can so easily meet people outside our community – that alone is a huge thing.’
What constitutes a loving family has no bounds, says Jo Moser, the photographer behind upcoming book The New American Family
Moser is currently booking sessions for portraits to be included in The New American Family through December 2013 and will be traveling extensively from February 2014 through April, all over the United States.
Information about getting involved can be found here.
Family time: A bit of father/son bonding-
