Love, not politics, should define a family

Many families will gather this week to celebrate our July 4th Independence Day. Some will gather for a family cookout, while others will pack a picnic basket and head to a community park to watch fireworks. When we think of family, what image comes to mind?

For some the word “family” conjures up an image straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting – a mom and dad, with two kids and a dog. But today the picture is more encompassing. Family might be a single mother and her children having dinner together. It could be children having dinner with a parent and step-parent. It also includes families where the parents are two moms or two dads.

In an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune a few months back, Geoffrey Stone talked about his daughter Mollie:

. . . Mollie has found a life-partner. Mollie and Andrea are deeply committed to each other. They want to spend their lives together. Watching them over the last few years, it is easy to see why. They complement each other, take care of each other, respect each other and love each other. They want to have children, for all the right reasons.

In my experience, they are no different in their love, commitment and aspirations than any of the other young couples whose weddings I have attended over the last half-century.

But Mollie and Andrea cannot marry.

Stone went on to say:

"Marriage," we are told, "is between a man and a woman." It is simply a matter of definition. It is a matter of Scripture. It is what God commands. Indeed, there could be no other reason for such a rule. Apart from religious precept, why would we have such a restriction?

A third of Americans now favor allowing same-sex marriage, and more than half now support same-sex civil commitment. Our nation's greatest achievement has been its ability to recognize and overcome deeply entrenched racial, religious, gender and ethnic discrimination. We will achieve this as well in the realm of sexual orientation. But some of us grow impatient. I'd like to go to Mollie's wedding.

Stone makes a good point that is especially relevant as we celebrate our Independence Day. Our founders didn’t want us to be bound by the dictates of any one religious belief. They recognized it is in our best interest to have a wall of separation between church and state. When there are houses of worship that are performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples, shouldn’t those unions have legal recognition?

Whatever their make up, don’t all families bound by love deserve our respect?

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There is something you can do. Visit the First Freedom First web site and sign the petition. We must let our elected officials know that we support separation of church and state.