Jo and Teresa (and Jake, Matthew and Bena)

Jo and Teresa live in Maryland. They’ve been in a loving, committed relationship for 19 years and have three children — Jake, 12; Matthew, 9; and Bena, 2. Between skinned knees, soccer practices and never enough time in the day, they face all the same joys and frustrations as other parents — but without the same protections.

Because the government won’t give them legal protections, Jo and Teresa’s children don't qualify for full Social Security survivors’ benefits if one of them dies, even after a lifetime of paying taxes. And if one of the kids gets sick, in some states they could even be denied the right to visit them in the hospital because they aren’t “family.” And Jo and Teresa aren't eligible for COBRA health coverage for each other or for family medical leave to care for a sick loved one.

Why talk about this now? Because extreme political organizations like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council are playing politics with the lives of families like Jo and Teresa’s. These so-called “pro-family” groups claim that providing basic protections to devoted gay couples would bring about “the end of society as we know it.”1

They even want to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny any legal protections for gay partners and their families. Meanwhile, gay and lesbian couples in long-term, committed relationships aren’t eligible for government-issued civil marriage licenses and the legal protections they provide. Although no government should ever tell religious institutions who they can marry, the government should not discriminate in providing civil marriage licenses to any devoted couple.

Jo and Teresa deserve the same protections other families have and the ability to raise their children without discrimination. Tell your elected representatives not to play politics with the Constitution.

Love and commitment deserve protection. Take a stand for civil marriage equality below:
 
    >> Help get Jo and Teresa's story seen! Click here.
    >> Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment
    >> Sign our Million for Marriage petition
 

1 Sandy Rios, President of Concerned Women for America, October 2, 2003, National Press Club