As the Supreme Court gears up to hear two gay-marriage cases, one gay dad wants to remind the justices there is a personal angle to the issue.
In a blog for The Huffington Post, gay dad Rob Watsonissued an open dinner invitation to Justice Anthony Kennedy as a way to help the jurist decide how to rule.
Kennedy is viewed as the court's "swing voter," and he has written two landmark opinions for gay rights.
From the letter:
If you come, you will meet my 10-year-old sons, who will likely impress you, given how personable, articulate, polite and bright they are. You might ask, as many people we meet do, if they are twins. The answer will be, "They are 'almost-twins': Their birthdays are four months apart." That will bring a "huh, come again?" look, and I will explain how I adopted them as babies from different drug-addicted birth mothers through foster care.
If you were to come to dinner with my family, you would also meet Jim. He is the man in my life. It wasn't until our relationship became serious that he met my sons, and now he has taken up running a lot of the day-to-day needs of my family and has been an incredible support. He and the boys have already established a terrific bond. You will be able to see by the way I look at him, and by the way my sons look at him, that we love him. Deeply.
We can also talk about my relationship with Jim, and how, before I met him, millions of strangers voted for me not to be able to marry him. Neither of us has yet brought up marriage, but you will see by looking at us that one of us probably will want to bring it up in the near future. We are happy and love each other that much. However, even if one of us were to propose, he would need to ask millions of people for permission to marry his love.
Watson ends his letter by reminding the justice that "the future of our family rests in your hands. You have the power to make it devastatingly difficult."
Watson's plea to remember there are real people fighting for equal rights behind the issue of gay marriage follows the same theme of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech, where he compared gay rights to the civil rights movement.
DON'T MISS: New York Times Columnist And NYC Mayoral Candidate Explain Why Gay Marriage Matters >
Please follow Law & Order on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
