Hair on Fire!

Thought I would post while my hair is still on fire. This weeks discussion post felt very personal to me. I thought I might share my daughters story but it is not mine to share and after the discussion thread, I think it would be irresponsible to subject her to bias. So let me tell you this, I am a grown woman who has raised three daughters in my home and about one hundred other children in my heart. Some of them have been gay. I know that because they have felt safe enough to share that with my husband and me. They are welcome in our home, at our dinner table, and at our family celebrations. It saddens me to think of the love that we would have missed if I had made a decision to exclude them from our life because of their sexual orientation.

 I believe that people, educated people who do not see them as equal human beings have never known a friend or relative who is gay. How sad. To subscribe to a moral code or religion that fosters prejudice will never be a church I belong to. I feel like my family has been targeted this week. I feel angry and hurt. I hope that all three of these women will become mothers one day. Two of them will likely raise children in homes with two mommies. My daughter in the picture will likely raise a child with a husband. Any of these young women would be wonderful parents and wonderful, generous members of an early childhood parent group. To assume that they would not diminishes not only their equity but all of ours as well.

I feel so grateful that these three women live in Minnesota. It is a safer place to be than many other states. I am proud of the work that Minnesota has done legislatively on same sex marriage, the civil rights issue of my time. When any one of us thinks less of any other of us, it is discrimination and I will work tirelessly to end discrimination in all it's forms for the rest of my life. I hope I live long enough for the public discussion about LGBT families sounds something like this: "Remember when families were discriminated against because of who they loved? Remember when adults had to hide who they were in fear of being targeted? Remember when folks thought that their own marriages would be threatened by same sex marriages? How silly that all seems now!"