It's About Love

One thing my family is super rich in is love. Ash and I love each other very much, and we each love Noah an incredible amount. Over the last month, I've met a lot of Maryland families that have as much love for each other and their children as Ash and I have for each other and Noah. There's one large difference though. Those families do not have the same rights as Ash and I have. It seems silly, right? Two loving, committed, consenting adults that love each other and want to commit their lives to each other and have children now or want them in the future or don't want children at all can't be married? It's confusing, right? But in the state we live in, and in a majority of the United States members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are not allowed to legally marry the person they love and have committed their lives to.

When we're little, our parents teach us that if we are lucky enough to meet someone that we want to share the rest of our lives with all we have to do is love them with all of our hearts and ask if they want to love us like that too. Then, we can decide to get married and dance off into the sunset.

That's not the case for all loving and committed couples. I know, it's hard for me to wrap my brain around. I sometimes think about the 1960s in Maryland and how if I had been around then, I wouldn't have been able to marry Ash and it seems silly to me too. Why wouldn't we have gotten married? Oh because the state made it illegal.

This isn't about us though. Although I'm going to be honest with you. I take marriage very seriously. Even more so because couples like us didn't get to love each other publicly in the past. It makes me appreciate my marriage so much more. Not that I wouldn't have otherwise, but I know that right is a blessing for our family. It's something that other couples take for granted because no one had to fight for their rights to be a family. It's something you can only understand if it is your life and your reality. Something you can't pretend away.

I'm waiting to hear when and how the Maryland's House Judiciary Committee will vote on the issue of civil marriage equality. Our family believes very strongly in equal rights for all people, and so I feel a huge emotional investment in this decision and then the votes of the entire House of Delegates.

I know love will eventually prevail because it has to, but I'd want it to prevail now because these loving, committed couples who have made families together whether they are families of 2, 3, 4 or more, deserve to have their love and commitments recognized by the State of Maryland.

If you live in Maryland, you can help these loving families get one step closer to their dreams. Equality Maryland has an easy form to fill out and send to your delegates.

Come on equality, we're ready for you!