"Dear Abby" Comes Out for Marriage Equality

Posted by Pam Spaulding at 2:00 PM on October 10, 2007.

This post, written by Pam Spaulding, originally appeared on Pam's House Blend

Dear Abby says it's time to come out for marriage equality. Jeanne Phillips the daughter of the original columnist, has been up front as a supporter of the LGBT community, and is being honored by P-FLAG for her work.

In an interview with the AP, she makes it clear that she supports the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

"I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em," the syndicated advice columnist told The Associated Press. "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake."

...PFLAG director Jody Huckaby said Abby is the perfect choice for the first "Straight for Equality" award, part of the group's new campaign to engage more heterosexuals as allies.

"She is such a mainstream voice," Huckaby said. "If Dear Abby is talking about it, it gives other people permission to talk about it."

..."Accepting the status quo is not always the best thing to do," she wrote. "Women were once considered chattel, and slavery was regarded as sanctioned in the Bible. However, western society grew to recognize that neither was just. Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain have recognized gay marriage, and one day, perhaps, our country will, too."

An important point made in this article is that there has been no backlash for Dear Abby's outspokenness on gay rights issues, and that column -- syndicated in over 1,400 newspapers -- reaches into the heartland of America.

And for those out there looking for how she will respond to transgender issues, look at her matter-of-fact outlook when presented with a question from a reader.

Right now, Abby, as Phillips prefers to be called, is working on a reply to a woman who wanted to know whether she should include childhood photographs of her transgender brother-in-law in a family album. The woman is worried what she will tell her children when they see pictures of their uncle as a little girl.

Phillips' guidance to Worried Reader will be simple, she said: Include the photos, of course. Silence is the enemy. Answer any questions the kids have honestly -- Uncle John was born with a body of the wrong sex, so even when he was called Jane he was really John inside.

A lot of people out there, even those within the LGB community can learn from Dear Abby on this front.

Tagged as: gay rights, same sex marriage, dear scandals

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.