In a victory for civil rights, Proposition 8, a voter initiated ban on gay marriage in California has been reversed. California courts found the discrimination of individuals wanting to legally marry unconstitutional. Supporters of Proposition 8 argued the ban was necessary to safeguard the traditional understanding of marriage and to encourage responsible childbearing. What bullshit. “Responsible childbearing?” So the supporters of the ban are “responsible” for teaching their children bigotry?

The reason this issue is so important to me, and hopefully to you, is that we as fathers struggle to be recognized as able, nurturing parents to our children. The idea that traditional roles are the only way to raise children is an indirect assault on the new ways fathers are learning to parent their children. If there’s anything I’ve tried to show here it is that a stay at home dad is not second best when it comes to parenting. That a single father is just as capable as a single mother in raising children. To suggest that two men, or two women (though I don’t think the outcry is anywhere near as strong), are any less capable as parents is an insult to any of us filling non-traditional roles as parents.

Recognizing same sex couples as equals is the civil rights issue of our day and I am embarrassed for America to see it take so long to make right.