Marriage Amendments Hurt Families
By John White
On Dec. 10, 2004, Don and I were blessed with a dream come true. Our son Patrick came into our lives.
He is the light of our lives. It took us two years of classes, paperwork, home inspections, paperwork, background checks and did I say paperwork for us to finally get him. Patrick is now in a new school — and doing great, I must say — and we just bought a new home that will be ready for us to move into in September.
All three of us are very excited about our future as a family, and we are just getting started. But if what is happening to families like ours keeps happening, I truly don't know what the future will hold. Will we be forced to leave the country so that we can be safe and be protected as a family?
Don and I have been together, in a committed relationship, for almost 10 years. We have been registered as domestic partners in the state of California for four years. The decision to become parents was something we planned for years.
If an anti-gay marriage amendment passes in California, we will not only be banned from civil marriage, but it could also affect our domestic partnership. These things would be a blow to us as a family, leaving us unprotected in so many ways.
Thank you, HRC, for fighting for us. You are the light at the end of the tunnel.
May 18, 2005