<p>&nbsp;</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><strong>Washington DC</strong>&nbsp; The leadership of DignityUSA strongly disagrees with the Pope&rsquo;s statement yesterday in his &ldquo;State of the World Message&rdquo; where he said same sex marriage promotes a &ldquo;direct challenge to the family&rdquo;.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >&ldquo;It is clear that the Pope has a very myopic understanding of family&rdquo; stated Matthew Gallagher Executive Director of DignityUSA. &ldquo;The Pope needs to be open to the lived experience of countless couples as many people of faith and society in general move toward understanding &lsquo;family&rsquo; in a broader sense. Family is more than one male one female and their biological children. The modern world has learned to adapt and acknowledge a larger interpretation of the word &lsquo;family&rsquo; &rdquo; continued Gallagher.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >DignityUSA the nation&rsquo;s foremost organization of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender Catholics knows &lsquo;family&rsquo; as a loving intimate relationship between two consenting adults with that love coming from God for as the Gospel of John tells us &ldquo;God is Love.&rdquo;. Gender is not the determining factor for family; love is. The Pope&rsquo;s limited concept of &lsquo;family&rsquo; seems based solely on a centuries&rsquo; old view as the contractual state of affairs between individuals to protect property rights and on ignorance of all medical and psychological knowledge about the goodness of children in same-gender households.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >&ldquo;No one has been able to show how the thousands of same-gender couples who have publicly proclaimed their love and commitment in Massachusetts New York California and Oregon&nbsp; as well as in many other countries - have done damage to the institution of marriage. In fact these expressions of love can only make this institution stronger&rdquo; stated Gallagher.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; >The leadership of DignityUSA calls on the Pope to focus his attention on celebrating when God&rsquo;s children proclaim God&rsquo;s love in committed relationships instead of using his power to hurt them.. DignityUSA call on the Pope to bless these same-gender families.</p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><em>DignityUSA is the nation's foremost organization of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender Catholics their families friends and supporters. Founded in 1969 it is an independent nonprofit organization with members and chapters across the country.</em></p><p style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin-right: 30px; ><em>DignityUSA works for full inclusion of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Church and Society.&nbsp;<a style=font-family: Verdana Arial Helvetica sans-serif; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51 0 102); text-decoration: underline; href=http://www.dignityusa.org/>www.dignityusa.org</a></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p>