There is a reason many fathers do not man up and take care of their children: The system does not allow them to. Men are discriminated against in this system.

My boyfriend has just come to yet another wall in the three-year battle for his son. The opposition: a vindictive, vengeful, manipulative and controlling woman who is the grandmother of his son. Yes, the grandmother.

The mother gave the child up to her mother and later lost all parental rights because of serious accusations she made against the father of her child in court, accusations that turned out to be a lie.

Naturally, you would expect the child to go to the other parent, the father. However, this is not the case. The court has decided he is an unfit father, because a subjective psychological test that says he is aggressive with a strong sexual drive. That sounds like a man to me.

I know that he has never laid a hand on that child, yelled at him or touched him in an appropriate manner. This has not stopped them from accusing him of this and more.

Every accusation has been ripped to shreds, but he still does not have custody of his son. Why? Because the state of Virginia does not want a man raising a child, no matter how capable he is or how incapable the other side is.

This system needs some serious re-examination before more children get hurt at the hands of inept adults, and more fathers drop out of their children’s lives, simply because the system will not let them be Dads.