Kid Adopted by Gay Dads Writes Letter to Support Gay Marriage

By Leonora Desar

Meet Daniel Martinez-Leffew, a 12-year-old boy from California who wrote a letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts urging him to end the ban on gay marriage and strike down Proposition 8.

In a moving video, Daniel reads aloud from his letter, which talks about how he and his sister Salina were adopted by their two dads when he was five. Daniel had been told in foster care that he was "unadoptable" because he has Goldenhar syndrome, a genetic disorder which affects the whole left side of his body. "I lost my little brother Emilio because some people wanted to adopt him, but they weren't willing to adopt me because of my medical conditions," said Daniel as he read aloud from the letter. "Lucky for me, that's when my two dads came along."

Daniel goes on to write about how he recently discovered that Justice Roberts adopted a boy and a girl, which reminded him of him and his sister.

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"Family means a lot of different things to different people, but some people believe that you have to have the same blood to be a family," wrote Daniel. "You and I both know that family goes deeper than blood. I was lucky to be adopted by two guys I could both call dad. They give me and my sister so much love."

Later he adds, "I know you have a tough decision to make with the gay marriage issue, but my family is just as valuable and worthwhile as any other…If Prop 8 is allowed to stand, imagine the pain we would feel knowing that we are not considered equal to everyone else."

Daniel was inspired to write the letter during a conversation at dinner where he learned that Justice Roberts had two adopted children, reports NBC Latino. Daniel's dad Bryan Leffew said that the family had been talking about how John Eastman, the leader of the National Organization for Marriage, had called Justice Robert's decision to adopt "a second-best option."

"Something just hit home for Daniel and he decided to write the letter," Leffew told NBC Latino. "It took him about a day to write. We went through and read what he wrote and were blown away.

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"The best thing would be for people to realize that two people of the same sex is not something that's scary," Leffew told NBC Latino. "It's two people falling in love, which a lot of people do everyday. We want people to see that our kids will grow and thrive just like everybody else's kids do."

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