Powerful Open Letter to the Supreme Court from a Gay Couple with Three Adopted Kids: VIDEO

Jack Montgomery and his husband Kelly have three adopted kids from D.C.'s foster care system. In a powerful letter and video, he begs the Supreme Court to do the right thing on Prop 8 and DOMA.

Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP...

And read along, below:

Dear Justice Scalia as well as your distinguished peers serving on the Supreme Court,

First let me thank you for hearing the historic cases this week on California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). My husband, Kelly Vielmo, and I adopted three beautiful siblings from DC's foster care system last year. Being an inter-racial, same-sex family we are used to being conspicuous and sometimes the center of attention on a local level depending on where we happen to be. With the cases being heard in the Supreme Court this week our family is now on debate at the national level. With that said I am following with interest your ruling on these cases. One comment that stuck with me was the speculation of potential "deleterious" effects of kids having same-sex parents. After I looked up deleterious (adj. causing harm or damage) I had to reflect on the harm and damage that has been done to my children. I know that you are listening to these cases from a nationally-scaled legal point of view, but the intent of this letter is to offer you the lens and point of view of one individual family your rulings will affect.

Children who are placed in the care of foster systems throughout this nation have suffered from either the neglect or the abuse of their biological families. For all intents and purposes, we will call this deleterious parenting. Sadly my children were born into these circumstances. They further had statistics against them. The adoption rates of both African American children and sibling pairs (not to mention trios) are greatly reduced. When my husband and I looked at our options for growing our family, DC's Child and Family Services Administration seemed to be our natural choice. We knew we wanted siblings, had no racial preference for our children, and living in the District were able to help our local community at the same time.

I do not want to go into too much detail of my childrens' history for the sake of their privacy. When our children arrived we welcomed a five-year-old who was not potty trained, a two-year-old who was withdrawn, and an almost two-year-old who never learned to walk. Please understand that there were no biological impediments to the development of these children. Their situation was entirely brought on by deleterious parenting. Since their arrival our children quickly graduated from the need of any additional services to include physical, speech, and play therapy. They are now happy and active members of their community.

I do not tell you these facts to paint ourselves as the saviors of these children. These children have done more for us than we have for them. Having the extraordinary privilege of watching these childrens' souls grow and thrive despite the obstacles placed before them has been the lesson of our lives. I tell this story to establish myself as an expert witness to the effects of deleterious parenting. As you prepare your response on Proposition 8 and DOMA you now have the opportunity to decide what further obstacles will face these children. What are the deleterious effects your decision will have on my children? What states within our nation can these children live in and still declare their family legal? Next year during tax season will their parents have to hire a CPA to determine who and how to list the children as dependents? When the first of their parents passes away will their family's assets and property be preserved and passed between parents as a married family or be treated as legal strangers?

I am not naive enough to think that any verdict of your court will change the opinions or hearts of the individuals we encounter on a daily basis. I accept that the stares our family receives walking down the street on a daily basis elicits both judgment and inspiration. What I do not accept is that the United States of America is willing to devalue my childrens' family more than others and have a separate grouping of laws and benefits. I pray that as you rule on these cases that you keep Cardel (6), Raine (4), and Ravyn (3) in your hearts and do all in your power to keep deleterious obstacles from their lives.

Respectfully Yours,
Jack Montgomery

Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP...

'Today' Show's Jenna Wolfe: I'm Gay and I'm Having a Child: VIDEO

TODAY show weekend anchor Jenna Wolfe came out of the closet publicly today in an announcement that she and her partner, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, are having a baby and that she is carrying it.

People reports:

“This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us,” the Today weekend anchor tells PEOPLE exclusively in its new issue. “But I don’t want to bring my daughter into a world where I’m not comfortable telling everyone who I am and who her mother is.”

Together for three years, Wolfe, 39, and Gosk, 40, began discussing starting a family last year — and had little trouble getting pregnant.

“We were constantly on the road, juggling a thousand balls at once,” Wolfe says. “It’s a miracle we got it all together.”

The couple is also planning to wed, but admit they’re more excited for the baby.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Adopted Son of Gay Dads Writes Powerful Letter on Marriage Equality to SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts: VIDEO

Daniel, the 12-year-old son of the Leffew Family in Northern California (you may have seen some of their videos online), wrote a powerful letter to Chief Justice Roberts about the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, after reading that Roberts has two adopted children of his own.

Watch Daneil read his letter, AFTER THE JUMP...

Last week National Organization for Marriage Chairman John Eastman smeared Justice Roberts and his family by calling adopted children "second-best".

Tom Ford Talks About Changing Diapers: VIDEO

Andre Leon Talley sits down with Tom Ford to talk about his latest collection, and fatherhood.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Gay Dads Who Found Their Son in the Subway Talk to Anderson Cooper: VIDEO

The gay dads behind the New York subway baby piece in the NYT earlier this month got to tell their story to Anderson Cooper's audience.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via jmg)

Kansas Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Lesbian Mother's Rights

In what is being called a groundbreaking decision, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the nonbiological mother of two children who was in a long-term lesbian relationship can have the same parental rights as the biological mother. 

The case involves Kelly Goudschaal (who carried the children after undergoing artificial insemination) and her former partner, Marci Frazier. The Kansas City Star reports:

The couple had signed a co-parenting agreement that stated Frazier’s “relationship with the children should be protected and promoted,” and that they intended “to jointly and equally share parental responsibility.” After they separated, Goudschaal began limiting Frazier’s visitations and moved with the children to Texas.

Frazier filed a legal action seeking to have the parenting agreement enforced. After a trial, Johnson County District Judge Kevin Moriarty found that joint custody was “in the best interests of the children.”

Goudschaal was granted residential custody. Frazier was ordered to pay monthly child support and was granted “reasonable parenting time.”

As for the court's decision:

The Supreme Court said in Friday’s decision: “We have declared that the public policy in Kansas requires our courts to act in the best interests of the children when determining the legal obligations to be imposed and the rights to be conferred in the mother and child relationship.”

The court said that “what Goudschaal really wants is to renege on the co-parenting agreement without regard to the rights of or harm to the children, all in the name of constitutionally protected parental rights. “Surely, her constitutional rights do not stretch that far.”

Not enforcing the parenting agreement would deny the children the opportunity to have two parents as children in a traditional marriage would have, according to the court.

“The agreement is not injurious to the public because it provides the children with the resources of two persons, rather than leaving them as the fatherless children of an artificially inseminated mother,” the court ruled.