Freshman Sophie Jones and her father’s partner Michael Malinowski laughed as her father Jerry Jones recalled various embarrassing assumptions people made about their family over the years. On one occasion a waitress mistook Malinowski as Jerry’s father because of his graying hair. Many similar incidents occurred over the years due to Sophie having same-sex parents.

In 2003, Sophie’s parents divorced during her first year of elementary school. Two years later, her father met his partner. Around the same time, Sophie’s mother, Pam Draper, remarried. This essentially resulted in Sophie having three fathers.

“I’ve always been a daddy’s girl…and I couldn’t ask for better dads,” Sophie said. “I’m really close to all of them.”

When Sophie described her non-traditional family to friends, she received a variety of responses.

“Some people think it’s really cool,” Sophie said. “Others haven’t really thought about that family dynamic since it’s pretty rare.”

Despite the fact Sophie’s social life stayed predominately unaffected by her unique family dynamic, her parents still played it safe.

“We’re respectful of [Sophie] because in any social situation we don’t want her to be uncomfortable or bullied or teased,” Jerry said.

Having same-sex parents made Sophie more open-minded about other people’s differences.

“I try to accept anyone because you never know what’s going on,” Sophie said. “And it’s because of my dad’s situation.”

This belief also stemmed from the reactions Sophie and her fathers garnered in public.

“If we’re out in a public place with my dad and his partner, we can sometimes get a lot of looks,” Sophie said. “Sometimes my family is really judged.”

Despite the negative attention, many positives resulted from the arrangement.

“I always have a parent to talk to,” Sophie said. “I’ve gained a lot of new family members. They’re all really great, I love them.”

Generally, Sophie did not see the effects of her parent’s divorce as different than those of other divorced families.

“The only way the actual divorce has affected me is that I flip between houses,” Sophie said.

Sophie also hoped that people would become more accepting of same-sex marriage.

“In today’s society, a lot of people are beginning to accept the concept of having same-sex parents,” Sophie said. “I’m really into the idea that anyone should have the opportunity to find love.”