Our cool summer has brought two hot new releases: Hollywood's mainstream hit, "The Kids Are All Right," and Judge Walker's ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
This is no accidental convergence. As the legal battle is joined, the ground war for hearts and minds continues. It is too soon to know how Judge Walker's landmark decision will play out in the federal courts. But the film's very existence, let alone its success, shows how much attitudes toward gay marriage have already changed.
"The Kids Are All Right" depicts an average family as the oldest child is about to leave home. The family just happens to consist of two moms and their teenage kids. The interloping sperm donor lights a match to the household's tinderbox of mid-life and teenaged angst, but ultimately, his biological and emotional claims amount to nothing. "If you want a family so bad, go make your own," one of the moms blasts BioDad. He is literally left outside in the cold, looking in at the hearth and home he wants but cannot have.
The film refutes the argument that gay marriage harms children. Its title and many scenes around the family dinner table underscore that these are well adjusted kids lovingly raised by two parents. Sexual orientation is largely irrelevant because it has nothing to do with love, marriage and family. That's the point of the movie.
It's the point of Judge Walker's Prop. 8 ruling as well. When we grant the rights and responsibilities of marriage to all parents, more kids will be raised in loving and stable homes, which will help society become all right.