Is Elton John’s Partner, David Furnish, Really A Mother?

[naomi24]

Germaine Greer has criticised Elton John for naming his husband David Furnish as the 'mother' on the birth certificates of their two sons.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8739313/Germaine-Greer-slams-Elton-John-naming-husband-mother-sons-birth-certificates.html

David Furnish has hit back, telling her to mind her own business, but does she have a point? Does it make any sense at all to describe a man as a ‘mother’?

[barry1010]

jno, no, sperm donors aren't named as father on the birth certificate unless that is what he and the mother wants. As a rule sperm donors are anonymous until the child reaches 18 when he or she can request identifying information.

[ichkeria]

All sounds a bit sexist to me.
All-male families bad, all-female good?

Hmm
And as noted if it was been a mixed couple the original mother or father would not be on there.
So slightly homophobic too it seems. Homophobia masquerading as feminism?
I couldn’t possibly comment ...

[ichkeria]

Perhaps there should be
a “with acknowledgments to” section :-)

[woofgang]

this is ten years ago, why raise it now?

[andy-hughes]

I guess it comes down to semantics, and how you define specific terms.

I would say that a man cannot be a "mother", but these days, language, along with gender, is being seen as 'fluid' and this looks like one more example.

If Germaine Greer wants to beat the drum for feminism, she should remember her role in Kenny Everett's tv show Nicetime,, when she wore a tee shirt emblazoned with the epithet 'GOLLY' and they made much of the apparent reason why - specifically Ms. Greer's chest.

Feminist? Fine, if your memory is as selective as Ms Greer's apears to be.

[ladybirder]

Thanks for the link chelle. It still doesn't make a man the mother.

[pixie374]

Sounds about right, ich! The problem is everyone is legally registering the desires of the parents. Where the birth certificate is for the child. The boys can call them dad, mum, Harriet, Grandma... whatever. But I'm surprised you are legally allowed to lie about parents.
I wish i had claimed Jason Mamoa to be my children's dad now. Missed a trick!

[dannyk13]

chelle // but she was never a mother.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mother

[Barsel]

Not knowing anyone personally who are the children from same sex marriages, I do wonder what they call their parents. Do the children call Elton Daddy and David Mummy or perhaps they have completely different names for them? Perhaps they call them Daddy Elton and Daddy David.
Some friends of my daughter are in a same sex marriage, (females) and are expecting a baby next month. I expect the female carrying the baby will be called Mummy, but don't know if the other female will be called Daddy.

[naomi24]

//If Germaine Greer wants to beat the drum for feminism...//

I’m not sure Germaine is ‘beating a drum for feminism’, but rather a point of principle. She’s spoken out similarly about men who hijack women's roles by choosing to define themselves as women and calling themselves ‘she’.

[chelle7272]

I didn't say that, I said Greer's issue was that the mother was being denied her 'title'. Not true.

[HansUrbancka]

Perhaps also, the eggs for the children were fertilized by someone other than either of the Johnfurns

What a sordid state of affairs.

Hans.

[Barsel]

When Elton and David decided to have a family, I'm sure the necessary documents were drawn up that were satisfactory to all concerned.The women involved would have agreed to remain anonymous and were probably paid handsomely for their agreement. There are probably some documents which state the names of the women involved that will be held in safe keeping. I suppose where it says Mothers name of the birth certificate, they could have put 'Not disclosed'.

[jno]

woofgang, it's in the nature of interviews with the Oldie that they cover the past - they're not usually plugging new books or TV series as in other media, so there's no news element, they just like talking to old people. They ran a very entertaining one with Diana Rigg only a few months ago.

(As I recall, when Linda Thorson took the role, Patrick Newell played Mother.)

[jno]

Barsel, yes, the birth certificates of illegitimate children often didn't name the father. Sonmetimes a mother would give the baby its father's name as a middle name, just to get the truth out.

[SparklyKid]

Total stupidity.

Had to laugh years ago when they married. The Sun Headlines,

"Elton takes Furnish up the aisle"

[barry1010]

It's a wise child that knows its own father. Nowadays, it could be said that it is a wise child that knows its own mother.

[Barsel]

Naomi, to answer your question, No, David Furnish is not a Mother. As things stand (at the moment) a Mother is a female, and so, No, he shouldn't have been described as a Mother on the birth certificate. Since birth certificates came along, there will have been many mistakes made on them, so I really can't understand what all the fuss is about.

[Old_Geezer]

If something is wrong then everyone has a right to discuss it. Just more lies permitted by authorities, ain't it. Probably take a while for sanity to return and for history to label this, "The Age of Insanity".

[jno]

true that, barry, you could have one woman supplying eggs, another supplying a uterus, and another raising the child. Dannyk linked to a dictionary meaning of "mother" but I think it's out of date.