Melissa Etheridge's Son on Same-Sex Marriage Ban: 'Lame'

By Jessica Gold Haralson

Originally posted Thursday October 30, 2008 12:25 PM EDT


Melissa Etheridge has a message about California's Proposition 8, which would ban same sex marriage: It's lame!

But those aren't her words – that's how the singer's 9-year-old son, Beckett, described it.

"He, being 9 years old and very proud of his reading skills, read 'Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same sex couples to marry," wrote Etheridge in her blog on The Daily Beast. "He looked at me, very matter-of-factly and said, 'Wow, that's lame.' "

The singer wed Tammy Lynn Michaels, 33, in a legally unrecognized ceremony in 2003.

"I wanted to stand in front of my community of family and friends and declare my promise to be committed to my partner, now my wife, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health," said Etheridge.

"The day before the wedding Grey Davis gave same sex couples domestic partnership rights, one of his last moments as governor and we proudly hung our certificates on our wall. They were limited rights, but doggone it, it was a beginning."

Etheridge has four children: Bailey Jean, 11, and Beckett (with ex-girlfriend Julie Cypher), and twins Miller Steven and Johnnie Rose, 2, with Michaels.

In the blog, she also recalls how hard it was to legally adopt her older kids. "The social worker would come to my house, numerous times, evaluate me, have me fill out all of the forms and then regretfully deny me my right to adopt my children because California law prohibited social workers from adoption approval of same sex couples."

A judge, however, overruled the decision. "I give thanks to these great people who truly believe in equal rights and risked so much for so many families," she writes.

Etheridge is hopeful that Proposition 8, which will be voted on by Californians on Nov. 4, won't stand a chance at the polls.

"I will be waking up with my children on November 5th and I will be fixing them breakfast as I usually do. I look forward to telling them that prop 8 was defeated. I am sure my son will say, 'Good, that was lame.' "