A Simple Cheerios Ad With Gay Dads and Their Adopted Daughter Redefines 'Family'

Long before Modern Family ever aired, thousands of people have been redefining what a "real family" means, and it's finally starting to stick. 

After releasing an ad featuring an interracial family last year, Cheerios is at it again, this time airing an advertisement for the cereal that tells the story of two gay men who adopted a young girl. Take a look:

"I thought that it would never be possible to have a child, given that I'm gay," André says in this Canadian ad. In the clip, André, his partner Jonathan and their adopted daughter Raphaëlle all sit at a table with a bowl of Cheerios (obviously) talking about how their family was formed in what some might call an "unconventional way," though they shouldn't. 

"If Raphaëlle has a problem [with having] two dads," Jonathan adds, "it's not going to be our fault." And he's exactly right. As these two men, and thousands of others like them, have shown, a family can come in all different forms. As long as there's a loving and caring family structure of some sort, the children of homosexual parents have just as good a chance of strong development as those of heterosexual parents.

Sure, it's just an advertisement, but the more we see this type of "modern family" portrayed in mainstream media and everyday life, the more this "unconventional family" becomes accepted and understood and the less people have to ask ridiculous questions or raise a stink.

What's particularly special about this ad is that it's not just overtly about LGBT equality (although there's absolutely nothing wrong with that), but just a simple ad about family and love. Change a few words and names and this could easily just be a love story about a straight couple who adopted a young daughter, because that's what this this: a love story about a family. The sooner we start thinking about homosexual couples as just "parents" and not "gay parents," the sooner we can leave the hate behind us. 

h/t Slate