State Courts Rule Against Family Values, and In Favor of Discrimination

Almost 30 years ago I came out of the closet and decided to live my life honestly. Since then hundreds of thousands of lesbians and gay men have done the same nationwide, so that today our 'family' resides in every major city in the US, and many small towns as well.

The community has changed over the years, so much so that today nearly everyone I know has, or is planning to have, children! There has been a virtual "gay baby boom" within the lesbian and gay community.

That is why the decisions in New York and Georgia banning marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples is so troubling. The New York decision said:

... lawmakers have a legitimate interest in protecting children by limiting marriage to heterosexual couples and that the law does not deny homosexual couples any "fundamental right" since same-sex marriages are not "deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition."

Where is the protection for our children? Where is the safety net for our families? And of course there is no deeply rooted history or tradition, but only because the law has denied lesbian and gay couples that legal right!

I've met couples that have been together 20, 30 even 50 years or more, who would have legally married and raised their children within that framework had it been an option.

We have mortgages, pay taxes, drive our kids to school and to soccer practice ... we care for our children, and our partners, when they are sick ... we work right along side everyone else in jobs ranging from a local factory to a fortune 500 company. We literally are 'everywhere.'

In a dissent, Chief Judge Judith Kaye said the court failed to uphold its responsibility to correct inequalities when it decided to simply leave the issue to lawmakers.

"It is uniquely the function of the Judicial Branch to safeguard individual liberties guaranteed by the New York State Constitution, and to order redress for their violation," she wrote. "The court's duty to protect constitutional rights is an imperative of the separation of powers, not its enemy. I am confident that future generations will look back on today's decision as an unfortunate misstep."

It is well past time for our families to have the same legal protection as everyone else.