For Children of Gays, Marriage Brings Joy

By Patricia Leigh Brown
The New York Times
March 19, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/national/19GAYS.html?ei=5062&en=ef8cf2be99162fdd&ex=1080277200&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=all&position=

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 — On a recent rainy Sunday morning, Gabriel Damast had planned to laze around the house, watching cartoons and eating French toast. Instead, he snapped his favorite chain-mail key chain to his belt loop, grabbed his MP3 player and headed to City Hall to watch his two moms, Fredda Damast and Birch Early, marry.

"It was so cool," said Gabriel, 13, who served as the ringbearer, after standing in line overnight with his parents. "I always accepted that `Yeah, they're my moms,' but they were actually getting married. I felt thick inside with happiness. Just thick."

The explosion of same-sex wedding ceremonies here and around the country has catalyzed a national debate over gay marriage. As the legal and rhetorical battles rage in county clerks' offices, on the presidential campaign trail and in the courts, one group is watching with more than casual interest: the children of same-sex couples.

The outcome is in flux. The county clerk in San Francisco stopped issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples last week, under court order, and Massachusetts is moving closer to a constitutional amendment banning the practice. The California Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing in May or June on the city's authority to issue the licenses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/national/19GAYS.html?ei=5062&en=ef8cf2be99162fdd&ex=1080277200&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=all&position=