<text>  A woman raised by two lesbians has provoked controversy after publicly announcing that she is against gay marriage because she says she missed out on having her father in her life when growing up. Heather Barwick, a 31-year-old mother-of-four from South Carolina, says her mother left her father when she was 2 or 3 so that she could move in with the woman she loved. Gay community, I am your daughter. My mom raised me with her same-sex partner back in the 80s and 90s, writes Barwick for the conservative publication The Federalist. Heather Barwick, a 31-year-old mother-of-four from South Carolina, says she is against gay marriage because she missed out on having her father around when she was growing up . Im writing to you because Im letting myself out of the closet: I dont support gay marriage. But it might not be for the reasons that you think. Its not because youre gay. I love you, so much. Its because of the nature of the same-sex relationship itself. Barwick recalls growing up in a very liberal and open-minded suburb surrounded by a tight-knit community of gay and lesbian friends and says her mothers partner treated me as if I was her own daughter. She also admits that her biological father wasnt a great guy, and didnt bother coming around anymore. Despite being an advocate for gay marriage in her 20s, Barwick now says shes had a change of heart. Same-sex marriage and parenting withholds either a mother or father from a child while telling him or her that it doesnt matter. That its all the same. But its not, she writes. A lot of us, a lot of your kids, are hurting. My fathers absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad. I loved my moms partner, but another mom could never have replaced the father I lost. Abigail Garner, an LGBT family-rights educator and author of the book Families Like Mine: Children Of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is, who was raised by two dads, told Yahoo Parenting that Barwicks reasoning didnt make much sense. While I sympathize with Heathers pain caused by being abandoned by her heterosexual father, her pain has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, she said. We are all entitled to our personal narratives, but I strongly disagree with Heathers contrived attempt to offer her personal story as a case for blocking other families access to marriage rights. Speaking to Christian publication World, Barwick said she only found healing for her father wound after she began attending church with her future husband. It really wasnt until I came to Christ that I felt that burden lifted off of me. And Im not bitter. Im not angry, she said. I forgive my dad. Barwick said there had been long-term consequences to going up with two mothers. Im not gay, but the relationship that was modeled before me was a woman loving a woman. So Ive struggled as an adult figuring out how to be in a relationship with my husband. Barwick is also one of six people raised by gay parents who signed a public letter of support this week for designers Dolce Gabbana following their controversial statements about gay parents. 