By Andrew Blade

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. --Jane Howard

The above was quoted by Dr. Brand Doubell, gay sexologist from Bloemfontein South Africa, on his Facebook status a while ago. A Girl called Bonita posted that she loves her weird family. Benjamin Breden from Johannesburg posted that pack animals need their pack & a guy called Edwin van Wyk responded with "Family; you can't choose them and you certainly don't want to lose them". I am always more than eager to like Dr. Doubell's status updates, because they are always either a well chosen quote for the occasion or a perfectly formulated utterance from his own wisdom, but somehow I did not respond to it.

My question is whether this sentiment still holds water in our time, our generation or even worse in our LGBT community?

Being far away from my own extended family, geographically and emotionally, I passed by his status update without being impressed at all and I am usually more than impressed with anything Dr. Doubell says.