Same-sex parents deserve respect

I read with disbelief that state Rep. Jeanne Ives, a Wheaton Republican, described same-sex marriage as “disordered” in a recent radio interview. She went on in the interview to say that same-sex marriages are a “completely disordered relationship” and accused LGBT people of trying to “weasel their way” into acceptability.

As a parent who is in a same-sex relationship that has lasted 13 years, I am outraged. Our two children were placed in foster care at a very early age. They had been in five homes — all of whom Rep. Ives would call “traditional families.” Each family broke our children’s hearts by turning them away.

We became their foster parents in 2007 and adopted them two years later in 2009. After years of rebuilding their trust in adults, helping heal their emotional wounds, and giving them a stable loving home, I am appalled that a representative in our state would attack our family and call us a “disorder.” We are not trying to “weasel our way in acceptability.” We are just trying to give our children the best life we possibly can. We send them to good schools; we give them all the love and support they need; and we work every day to provide a good, safe home for them.

Shame on Rep. Ives for attacking families and their children just because their parents desire to provide the safety net of marriage to their families. Every family, regardless of how they were formed, deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. It is time for the state of Illinois to stand on the side of love and pass marriage equality for all families.

David Neubecker

River Forest