boomerang wrote: What about the right to make medical decisions for your spouse and children?
Boomer, First let me say I admire your willingness, drive and sacrifice to take a kid under your roof and fight to make him yours. This is an attitude that is sadly lacking in too many circles, including, I'm sad to say, many Christian circles.
However, I don't believe social conservatism is the root of the problem you've described. I suspect this law is based on the perceived precedence that biological parents should have over the guardian with respect to life and health decisions for their children.
I feel that gay marriage is wrong because it civilly and socially "endorses" gay behavior, a practice which falls on the "wrong side" of my moral spectrum. Children raised in that environment are influenced and will likely become equally misguided, from my point of view.
Your situation is different. Your family falls on the "right" side of my moral spectrum and consequently, I believe the law should somehow accommodate your situation. This should not be done by relaxing the law to accommodate immoral lifestyles.
Now, I bet that "misguided" (and probably the immoral lifestyle) statement will raise some hackles. But I would suggest that there are those whom you too feel are misguided or immoral...perhaps the 40-yr old marrying an 11-yr old would fall in that category (or perhaps the social conservative trying to move society to the right
).
There are those who will undoubtedly argue that my moral views have no more validity than theirs, so why should I impose my beliefs on them? All I'm trying to point out is that we all have different views of right and wrong, and unfortunately none of us will know if we are correct until we are placed under the ground. Therefore, while still above ground, we should fight our political battles to the best of our abilities and let majority rule with regard to where society falls on the moral spectrum.