Community Corner
Santa Rosa 12-year-old a Supreme Court YouTube hit
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today about California's Prop. 8, a Santa Rosa boy raised by two dads scores coveted "viral" status on YouTube.
An online video made by a Santa Rosa boy who has two dads has racked up hundreds of thousands of views as the U.S. Supreme Court considers arguments over California's ban on same-sex marriage.
In the YouTube video, posted March 17, 12-year-old Daniel Martinez-Leffew reads a letter he wrote and sent to Chief Justice John Roberts. Daniel focused on Roberts because the chief justice has two adopted children, like Daniel's family. Daniel was adopted when he was 5, along with his biological sister, Selena, who an infant at the time.
"I recently found out that you yourself adopted two kids -- a boy and a girl -- kind of like me and my sister," Daniel reads in the video.
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"Family means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but some people believe that you have to have the same blood to be a family. You and I both know that family goes deeper than blood."
The four-minute video has gone viral, with nearly 210,000 views as of this morning. Daniel and his family have been interviewed by several national media outlets, including CNN and MSNBC.
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His father Jay Leffew said this morning that Daniel is back at school today after a whirlwind week that ended Monday night in San Francisco where Daniel spoke to a crowd at a marriage equality rally in front of City Hall.
"For a 12-year-old, he's a super kid," said Leffew, a San Francisco deputy sheriff. "He understands this is important to people."
Daniel's involvement in the fight for equal marriage rights stems from his fathers, Jay and Bryan, who have been together for 18 years and have been married for the past five after a traditional wedding with more than 100 guests in Santa Rosa.The wedding occurred during a brief window in 2008 when same-sex marriages were legal in California.
The husbands started uploading weekly videos online in 2008 after Prop 8 passed, with a channel featuring almost 400 clips showing that "gay family values are the same as straight family values," according to Leffew. The online platform gives a face to same-sex parents and their children and "people see us from all over the world," Leffew said.
After the passage of Proposition 8, "we felt our family was under attack," Leffew said.
The high court will hear arguments Wednesday on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. Daniel's YouTube video can be viewed on YouTube or with this article, above.
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