Blogging for LGBT Families

This post is part of the second annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day, a time for the LGBT community and our allies to come together in support of our families.

You don't have to be a member of the LGBT community, or a parent to participate, and they are still accepting contributions.

Just send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com or leave a comment there with a link to your post.

If you contribute, please leave a comment about it here, as well!

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This week, the state of New Hampshire legalized civil unions for same-sex couples, joining the small, but growing, number of states that legally recognize gay and lesbian relationships.

We are making progress, to be sure, but it is coming far, far too slowly, and while we've moved forward in this handful of states, a number of others have passed laws and constitutional amendments prohibiting marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples.

The opponents of marriage equality like to paint themselves as defenders of "The Family" but countless LGBT families are being harmed by their bigotry and hate.

In some states, children languish in the orphanages while gay couples who would love nothing more than to provide homes for them are denied the right to adopt.

In other states, non-biological parents are considered legal strangers to their children whom they've raised since before their conception.

Shrike and I are luckier than some, in that Blue State allows second parent adoption, and has not (yet) amended its constitution to prohibit marriage equality (although there is a law to that effect).

We will still have to spend a great deal of time and money when we have a child, to legalize Shrike's parental rights, and even then, she and I have no legal relationship to each other.

Given the obstacles - biological, financial, societal - that gay and lesbian couples must overcome in order to create our families, it baffles me that we can be considered inferior, or somehow "less than" simply because both parents are of the same sex.

If the opponents of equality were as interested in strengthening and protecting "The Family" as they claim to be, they would be working for the good of all families, not just those that fit their own narrow definition.

Please consider writing your elected officials, and telling them that.