And now, landofthefreehomeofthebrave.org officially endorses Barack Obama for president. We do not do this because we are liberals — well, some of us lean a little further left on certain issues than others — or because we have bought into Mr. Obama’s rhetoric any more than we did John McCain’s. Rather, it was our esteemed candidates’ choices of vice presidential running mates that primarily caused us to come to this conclusion.

Mr. Obama’s selection, Senator Joe Biden, may never set the world on fire, but he’s moderate, and appears to understand foreign relations and how the US economy and government work. Meanwhile, Mr. McCain’s pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is attractive, and charismatic, but seems to be clue-free when it comes to even the basics of foreign relations, economics, and how the government works and it is frightening to contemplate her sitting one 72 year-old man’s heartbeat away from the presidency.

Of course, we do not presume to tell others for whom they should vote, only that they should vote, but we do kindly ask everyone out there to please vote “NO” on any and all so-called “Marriage Protection” initiatives or amendments that limit the civil rights of gay and lesbian people, because these kinds of measures — in addition to being just plain backward and oppressive — degrade the meaning of marriage, and reduce the concept of family to a set of demographics.

To treat marriage as if it is nothing more than a license for two people to have sex and reproduce (as if one is required in the first place) diminishes the idea that loving commitment, trust, loyalty, mutual respect and cooperation are the basic moral values that are essential to maintaining successful marriages and building strong families. If we keep prioritizing the basic biological function of procreation as a value in marriage, we will eventually lose sight of how the moral values commitment, trust, loyalty, mutual respect and cooperation help married couples and their children to better deal with the challenges of family life in the modern world.

Defining families according to a conventional model of demographic composition is especially cynical in these days when families are perceived by so many as being in a state of decay. The suggestion that the foundations of successful marriages and strong families are biological connections and specific configurations of people demeans the true purpose of families and diminishes the value of the bonds of love, commitment, trust and loyalty that are the most significant factors needed to keep families stable and healthy. The recognition of a diversity of family configurations will strengthen these worthwhile family values because moral emphasis of marriage will shift from a clinical demographic prescription to a model in which people make serious commitments to work toward meaningful and purposeful relationships.

The notion that children are better off being raised in a home with a mother and a father (or the equivalent) distracts us from the fact that biology and demographics have never been guaranteed to provide a good and loving home for children. Effective childrearing requires a moral character that is not relevant to genetics or statistical designs. Children learn about how a good marriage works by seeing two loving people treating one another with consideration and respect and doing their level best to communicate and cooperate with one another (especially as this pertains to productive conflict resolution), not by merely observing an example of traditional gender identification within a specific demography.

When family composition and gender roles are seen as a priority over the coping skills that are conducive to productive human interactions and relationships there is a danger that children will get the mistaken impression that the foundations of successful marriages and strong families are simple and automatic as long as the demographic and biological requirements are in place, which devalues the importance of the moral character they must develop in order to someday have successful marriages and strong families of their own.