Love is not equal

At least, not where Ken Starr is concerned.

Deb sent me an email this morning that was quite upsetting. When I read it I immediately thought of the Holocaust, Apartheid and the Stolen Generation - events that saw people separated from one another simply because someone else felt that it threatened them.

Turns out that Mr Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund have filed legal briefs in the US defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and attempting to forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year. The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 5 with a decision expected in 90 days.

I don't understand it. Nothing - nothing - about marriages between same-sex couples threatens anyone else. It breaks my heart that two consenting adults who love and cherish one another would not able to formally recognise their commitment to one another. For goodness' sake, people. They want to marry, not annihilate the world.

Some of those against it would say that it isn't fair to the children - which I say is a big load of rubbish. So long as children have parents who respect one another, who raise their children in a safe, loving environment, who cares what sex they are? I've said it before, parental love doesn't come with a gender. Would Starr and associates vouch that my father loves me less than my mother because he's a man? Or conversely my mother because she's a woman?

It wasn't so long ago that mixed-race marriages were considered wrong and unfair to the children. The fact that the President of the United States is the product of a mixed-race marriage pretty much puts that one to sleep.

In fact, I imagine that many same-sex couples would be excellent parents given the hoops that need to be jumped through. As a former teacher I've seen so many kids in traditional families who are neglected (both emotionally and physically) and unloved - and yet some more rampant members of the right wing would have me believe that these kids are better off with a mummy and a daddy who ignore them rather than a daddy and daddy who cherish them. No thanks. I'm not buying that today.

US citizens are encouraged to go to the Courage Campaign site and sign a petition arguing against the motion to the Supreme Court. Sadly, as an Australian I don't think my signature would count so this post is the next best thing. On the same page is a video, Fidelity, made to highlight the case. The first image of a little girl sitting between her dads sent shivers down my spine. That someone would even consider breaking up a happy home because it doesn't sit within their belief system is abhorrent to me.

John Lennon said it first.

Love is the answer and you know that for sure.

Forcibly divorcing those who love one another is not.