If it's Really "About the Children," Conservative Must Support Gay Marriage

One of the things I find most disgusting and revolting about the anti-gay gay marriage forces is that they constantly whine and wail about children "needing a mother and father."   Never mind that for millions of children that scenario is never going to happen be it due to death of a parent, divorce - or having a same sex couple as one's parents.  If the Christianists actually gave a rat's ass about children - which they do not - then they would be lobbying hard for marriage equality and same sex couple adoption so that countless children would have increased financial security, better access to health care and increased stability in their lives.  Instead, these "Christians" do all in their power to make the lives of such children less secure and stable.  The hypocrisy is damning.  But then again, the word "hypocrisy" is in my view increasingly synonymous with the phrase "conservative Christian."  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the plight of children who are deprived stability and security because of their parents' inability to marry or, as is the case in Virginia, for same sex adoption by one's partner.  Here are highlights:

[W]hen they left a delivery room in Montgomery County last year, after Rice had given birth to twin boys, they quickly fell into the legal bog of every lesbian couple with a child in Maryland. Because Rice was the one to give birth, she was, in the eyes of the state at least, the twins’ mother. Dabney was a legal stranger, her name not on the children’s birth certificates.

In the 14 months since the twins were born, the legal limbo had hung over their lives. Dabney had quit her job as a home decorator to care for the boys. She was the one who built the pirate-themed nursery and painted a mural of sea creatures.

But the simple task of taking them to a doctor’s appointment meant she had to go armed with a permission slip from Rice. Before too long, it could mean not being able to pick them up from school if they were sick, or even to sign them up to play T-ball. At worst, if Rice were to die, it could mean a monstrous legal battle to keep Dabney and the boys together.

If Maryland becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by a popular vote next month, the victory would be built in part on a campaign message pushed by Gov. Martin O’Malley. Vote for gay marriage, he often says, “for the kids.”

“We cannot rightly conclude that the children of some parents should have lesser protections under the law than children of other parents,” O’Malley (D) recently told a group of deep-pocketed donors in the District, imploring them to open their checkbooks to fund an ad campaign defending the state’s same-sex marriage law.

If Maryland voters affirm the law, lawyers say raising children will become easier for same-sex couples who marry.  Both of the women in a lesbian marriage would become presumed parents if one gives birth to a child. Same-sex couples would also have greater rights to act as legal guardians. And if gay couples break up, both may be able to retain legal rights to help raise a child. They would still need to adopt to ensure their parental rights when traveling to states where gay marriage isn’t recognized as legal.