We are here because God calls us out to speak the truth of our lives. We are here because the church that once raised, nurtured and welcomed us as cherished children now bars us from the very service we had hoped to give. We are here because the church still does not own its part in the death of 33 percent of our teenagers. We are here because we want the church to honor our Holy Unions, to see our relationships as valuable and meaningful, to recognize our relationships as equal to the marriages of our heterosexual brothers and sisters. We are here because we value families.
Some families have two daddies or two mommies.
Patti and Susan with their son Benjamin, have visited several Presbyterian churches where they live. Not one has recognized them as a family. They do not want to raise their son in a church that would deny and denigrate their love for him and for each other. We are here because we are your children, your mothers, your fathers, your deacons, and elders, your Christian educators, your Church school teachers, your seminarians, your theological professors, your missionaries, your evangelists. We are here because we are you and you are us.