Iris Blumenthal is a mother from Long Island who wants only one wish this Mother's Day: for her son to have the right to marry the man that he loves. The New York Daily News has published a beautiful and touching op-ed from Blumenthal in which she calls on the New York legislature to bring marriage equality to that state.
An excerpt from her editorial:
It's a joy and a relief that both of my sons have entered that special, slightly mysterious realm that spouses share. That deep, abiding love and commitment. That bedrock knowledge that even if everyone else does not, that one person will remain true to the end. The simple pleasure of sleeping better at night, warm and snug in the knowledge that you are not alone in this world.
Every mother wants that for her children, to know that even when we parents are long gone, they will still be loved with every bit of fervor that we've loved them with from the moment they were born. It is a human condition, at the most basic level.
And while I am overjoyed that both of my sons have found such happiness — and that from their happiness I have gained another son and a daughter – I can't help but feel sad to Jonathan. The right to marry is, as it happens, not a right at all. Or, more to the point, it's not a right for all.
Read the rest of it here.
