This past week there was an absolutely legendary decision handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States, which stated that the right to marry is fundamental and guaranteed by the 14th amendment of the Constitution to all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation (Obergefell v. Hodges). As anyone not currently living under a rock, this is huge news! I'm so proud to be an America this week. I totally agree with the popular hashtag: #lovewins.
That said, I recognize that there are a lot of people who are disappointed or outraged even by the SCOTUS decision and are looking to make social change based on their Christian beliefs The photo above is from a rally on the Mall to gain support for a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Their point is that every child deserves a mother and a father and therefore, gay marriage should be made illegal.
The thing is...I believe that every child deserves a HOME and whether that parent is gay or straight is irrelevant, as long as he/she takes great care of the child/ren. When conservative states have laws restricting the rights of the LGBT community, it is not only members of that community that suffer but also many children in need of loving homes suffer as well. That is because there are any LGBT people who have made the choice to foster or foster adoption children in need and if states don't allow them to take this action, then these children will continue to needlessly suffer in foster care, even though great homes are available to take them in. When I was going through the homestudy process, I met a few gay couples interested in adopting and they were pretty cool. I hope they were successful in their adoption quest.
The thing is, people who say YOU can't foster or adopt because you're gay are apparently acting in this way because they want to protect children. But they should really be saying, you know what? I care so much about children that I am going to foster or adopt myself...but often times, they do not. They only pass judgment on others while the kids in need continue to suffer. There are 100,000 children in foster care waiting for a forever home and hundreds of thousands of children in need of temporary foster care. A religous group passing judgment means needy children go without care. Meanwhile in more liberal parts of the country there are many members of the LGBT community truly doing God's work and caring for children who deserve a forever home. God bless them.
That said, I would like to provide my heart-felt congratulations to the LGBT community on a truly monumental ruling and I hope that this is only the beginning of the conversation on how we can make #lovewin across cultures, across generations, across all demographics we have here.
