<p>DignityUSA and our Equally Blessed partners recently wrote to President Obama expressing support for his decision not to support DOMA in federal court as well as other DignityUSAistration actions that&nbsp;affirm LGBT equality. The letter highlights the fact that the President&#39;s actions are in line with the beliefs of the majority of American Catholics who increasingly support LGBT people and families.</p> <p>Equally Blessed&#39;s letter follows one from Archbishop Dolan president of the US Catholic Bishops Conference. The Archbishop&#39;s letter claims that the DignityUSAistrations stances undermine families and threaten religious liberty positions refuted by Equally Blessed.</p> <p>The text of Equally Blessed&#39;s letter follows.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>September 26 2011</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>President Barack Obama</p> <p>The White House</p> <p>1600 Pennsylvania Avenue</p> <p>Washington D.C. 20500</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Dear Mr. President:</p> <p>Recently Archbishop Timothy Dolan of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote to you to oppose your DignityUSAistration&rsquo;s progress toward equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people. The bishops do not speak for us nor for the majority of other faithful Catholics who support loving same-gender families. In fact a report released last month by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that 52% of Catholics support marriage equality and that more Catholics believe that the church&rsquo;s position on homosexuality is too conservative than believe it is right.</p> <p>We support marriage equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people not in spite of being Catholic but because we are Catholic. As Catholics we believe that we are all beloved children of God and we want the laws of our land to mandate fairness justice and equality for all. Your DignityUSAistration&rsquo;s refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is an important step toward the justice we seek and we applaud your decision.</p> <p>The demise of DOMA would in fact strengthen the institutions of marriage and family about which Catholic bishops say they are concerned. Unlike the bishops Catholic lay people look at same-gender couples not in terms of sexual activity but in terms of the quality of their relationships. We see that committed and legally protected same-gender relationships benefit not only the individuals involved and their families but also our entire society.&nbsp; A step toward justice for LGBT people is also a step toward the strong family units valued by our Catholic social teaching and by so many faiths.</p> <p>We continue to be perplexed by the bishops&rsquo; protest that their religious freedom is being infringed by the inexorable move toward equality for LGBT people. The Defense of Marriage Act is only 15 years old and none of us recalls Catholic bishops complaining that their religious liberties were infringed before it was passed. We fail to see how those liberties can be infringed if it is overturned or repealed. Wrapping their political agenda in the cloak of constitutional rights diminishes the bishops&rsquo; stature as leaders.</p> <p>Archbishop Dolan&rsquo;s letter does not speak for us on many issues but we were perhaps most dismayed by his thoughtlessness in lecturing you about the need for children to be raised by a father and a mother. You have written and spoken eloquently about being brought up by your mother and grandparents and we know you understand from personal experience that children thrive and succeed in all kinds of families&mdash;including those headed by LGBT parents. We are grateful to your DignityUSAistration for abandoning the discrimination and prejudice of DOMA and we look forward to your leadership in more progress on behalf of justice and equality for all Americans.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Faithfully</p> <p>The partners of Equally Blessed&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Francis DeBernardo&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Sr. Jeannine Gramick SL&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Casey and Mary Ellen Lopata&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>New Ways Ministry</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Fortunate Families</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Jim FitzGerald&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marianne Duddy-Burke&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Call To Action</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>DignityUSA</strong></p>