Kentucky man launches blog in fight for fathers' same-sex marriage

Tevin Johnson-Campion with his parents, Paul Campion (left) and Randy Johnson. (Photo: Courtesy of Tevin Johnson-Campion)

Tevin Johnson-Campion is hoping to make history with his two dads.

The young Kentucky man’s fathers are plaintiffs in the historic marriage-equality case that went before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the family traveled together to Washington, D.C., to witness the historic proceedings, which could change their lives.

Ahead of that journey, Johnson-Campion, 20, launched a blog, Making History With My Two Dads, to document the family’s trip. The blog offers intimate shots of his family, and he hopes the portraits will show the love his family shares.

“Without my parents, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. They’ve influenced me in a way that’s been beneficial to my life,” he said in an interview with Yahoo News.

The blog’s following picked up steadily, especially over the past few days, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, he said.

“I’m very thankful that they’ve been able to go on this journey and that I’ve been able to go on it with them,” he said.

Families from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee — four of the 14 states that do not recognize same-sex marriages — arrived in Washington to bring cases for the constitutionality of marriage equality before the nation’s high court.

His fathers, Randy Johnson and Paul Campion, got married in California in 2008 because same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in their home state of Kentucky. The family lives in Louisville.

From left to right, Johnson, Tyler Johnson-Campion, Tevin Johnson-Campion and Campion. (Photo: Courtesy of Tevin Johnson-Campion)

Johnson-Campion, a sophomore at the University of Louisville, says he has confronted more intolerance in his life as a result of being raised by gay parents. But he says the experience has also taught him a lot about how humans judge each other — a lesson he would not trade.

“I’ve been taught that there are different people out there and to accept people for who they are, not what they are,” he said. “And to judge people based on the content of their character.”

The American Civil Liberties Union is providing co-counsel for six families from Kentucky appearing before the Supreme Court – some seeking marriage licenses, others requesting recognition for out-of-state weddings.

Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the national ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & AIDS Project, says that they are “cautiously optimistic that the court will strike down the marriage ban and affirm that all same-sex couples and families have the same dignity under the Constitution.”

He also criticized the anti-gay marriage argument that children don’t fare as well in homosexual unions as they do in families with heterosexual parents.

“You can see [Johnson-Campion’s] story that they’re just like any other family,” Block told Yahoo News. “Gay people marry for the same reason that straight people do: for love, commitment and family.”