2pm~

Pete ran a story last night on ABC 7 News that, upon first glance, seems like an innocent tale of modern-day parenthood.  But upon closer inspection, Pete believes this story is a cautionary tale of how having a child can become too cavalier of an arrangement.  Call him old fashioned and even conservative, but Pete is a firm believer that a committed and loving couple in a relationship makes for the best parents.  What San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty and his female roommate are trying to do can have dangerous ramifications for their new child, and others in similar positions who want to undertake similar actions.

Supervisor Dufty, who is gay, is a new father, and his roommate Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian, is the mother of their newborn baby.  Dufty and Goldfader are not romantically linked, but decided to have a child together, through invitro fertilization, as they both wanted to become parents and were getting older (Dufty is 51; Goldfader is 40).  They will live in separate apartments in an attached duplex house; neither one has a partner yet, but if that happens, they will make the necessary room.  Says Goldfader:  “Actually I see Bevan and I not being a romantic couple as a benefit. A lot of straight couples have said that as well, like you don't have to deal with that whole other set of issues. Your focus is on the child.”

Make no mistake about it, Pete’s objection to two roommates having a child together has nothing to do with the sexual identification of the principals, but rather, was aimed at the notion of loveless co-parenting.  Pete is in fact in favor of same-sex marriage, and even though he feels children of gay couples face special challenges in explaining the sexual orientations of their parents, he sees the chances of these children becoming successful as no different than those of children from heterosexual couples.  Instead, Pete links Dufty and Goldfader in the same group as a single mother who decides she wants a child without a partner, which puts the child at a disadvantage.  How will Dufty and Goldfader explain their relationship to their child?  Isn’t this a careless and selfish way to have a child?

3pm~

Dr. Ronald Iverson is a plastic surgeon with his own practice in Pleasanton.  Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Dr. Iverson received his M.D. from UCLA and did his undergrad work at Stanford University.  A member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the International Confederation of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, the Plastic Surgery Education Foundation and the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association among many other groups, he has been a practicing plastic surgeon since 1974.

Dr. Iverson joins Pete to discuss the two sides of the plastic surgery business:  the pop culture aspect and the very valuable advances in reconstructive surgery for victims of accidents, wars or people born with physical deformations.  As plastic surgery has become more affordable and less taboo, it seems that almost everyone has at least considered “getting a little work done”; and guessing which celebrities have had a nip, tuck or additions and subtractions has become a new parlor game while watching the red carpet during award shows.  But on the other end, badly wounded veterans from Iraq are having amazing reconstructive surgeries to repair the damage and plastic surgeons have been able to separate Siamese twins with breathtaking results.

Dr. Iverson is in San Francisco to attend the American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual convention, which he helped organize, and sits on the Patient Safety Committee.  Dr. Iverson has three offices in the East Bay:

-1387 Santa Rita Road in Pleasanton, office # is 925-462-3700. 

-919 San Ramon Valley Blvd., Ste. 150 in Danville, office # is 925-820-7290

-20055 Lake Chabot Road, Ste. 340 in Castro Valley, office # is 510-537-1577

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006