Anti-LGBT group launches petition against Parents magazine for showing same-sex couple on cover

Elise Solé
Parents magazine showed celebrity fitness expert Shaun T. and his husband, Scott Blokker, on its February cover, along with their children. (Photo: Parents)
Parents magazine showed celebrity fitness expert Shaun T. and his husband, Scott Blokker, on its February cover, along with their children. (Photo: Parents)

Celebrity fitness trainer Shaun T and his husband, Scott Blokker, became the first same-sex couple to be featured on the cover of Parents magazine. Now, an anti-LGBT group is protesting that milestone.

One Million Moms was created by the conservative nonprofit American Family Association (AFA), which opposes homosexuality, gender-neutral bathrooms, and pornography as part of its “Christian activism.” The AFA backed second lady Karen Pence, who accepted a job teaching at a school that doesn’t accept gay children and President Trump‘s border wall plan. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the AFA an “extremist group.”

On Thursday, One Million Moms launched a petition against Parents magazine for its “attempt to normalize same-sex parenting” by putting the couple on its cover.

The February issue stars Shaun T, 40, the creator of the home fitness series Insanity, T25, and Hip-Hop Abs, along with Blokker, his husband of six years, and their cute 1-year-old twin sons, Silas Rhys and Sander Vaughn, who were born through surrogacy, reportedly after 12 pregnancy tries, six egg donors, five surrogates, and one miscarriage.

The couple told Parents about the difficulties of caring for premature babies (born at 32 weeks) and how their marriage changed as a result. “It was terrible,” Shaun T told Parents. “We got into more fights than we’d ever had in our entire relationship.”

“I even questioned whether we’d ruined our marriage by having kids,” said Blokker, “but it wasn’t the kids. It was the not sleeping!” After the newborn period, the couple developed their respective roles (“I do all the planning — babysitters, shopping, doctors — and Shaun brings the fun,” Blokker told Parents) and grew stronger. “The connectedness you feel at the end of the day is the driving force for how you wake up the next day, so every night we fall asleep holding hands,” said Shaun T.

The Parents cover was exciting to many readers, but it ticked off One Million Moms, whose petition has more than 7,000 signatures. “Parents is using its magazine as a platform to promote the pro-homosexual lifestyle,” read the petition’s mission. “Even if families do not personally subscribe to the publication, they should be warned that it could be displayed in waiting rooms of dentist and doctor offices, where children could easily be subjected to the glorification of same-sex parents.”

“Many families subscribe to Parents and should be aware of the upcoming change of content in this magazine,” it read. “… Mothers and fathers are seeing more and more similar examples of children being indoctrinated to perceive same-sex couples as normal, especially in the media. Likewise, the magazine’s website, Parents.com, and their other social media pages also push pro-homosexual content.”

The petition even encouraged people to quit subscribing to the mag: “This agenda will be a deal breaker for most conservative families, so, with this information, many of our supporters and families may choose to cancel their subscription to Parents. After all, most conservative and Christian families will disagree morally with the magazine’s decision, and subsequently, will not want to support its content.”

Monica Cole, director of One Million Moms said in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle, “One Million Moms encourages Parents Magazine to acknowledge research proving that raising children with their biological mother and father is best for their mental health and their futures. We are not supportive of political correctness and social agendas that are ultimately harmful to American families. America’s families deserve a model that is focused solely on how to best raise their children. Glorifying a lifestyle choice that represents less than four percent of America’s citizens is not wise and thousands have already signed the 1MM petition affirming this stance.”

Shaun T did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.

“Parents is proud to feature our first ever same-sex parents cover with celebrity fitness pro Shaun T., his husband Scott and their twin baby boys Silas and Sander,” Liz Vaccariello, editor-in-chief of Parents, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We presented this family the way we spotlight all parents and children who are gracious enough to appear on our magazine — as a reflection of today’s family.”

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