I always have supported the right to marry for same sex persons because I think the absence of that right is truly detrimental to traditional marriage and family. Same sex love and commitment are out in this culture and they are not going back in.

Everywhere I look and mingle among friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, I hear from same-sex couples desires to have a home and a job, to pay taxes, raise children together, take meaningful roles in communities, enjoy mingling among their neighbors...take care of their elders, work in their welcoming churches, have dogs and cats, bake birthday cakes, take care of their lawns...the list goes on and on. The theme is clear, they want freedom to be part of the things that make for rich and stable shared life. They want what marriage, at its best, represents, a format for love, family, neighborliness, and participation in the larger community. Legal marriage for same sex couples will strengthen the social institution of marriage for everyone.