10-year-old Girl Writes to President Obama About Gay Marriage — and He Writes Back

Sophia Bailey-Klugh had already written to President Barack Obama once before, to invite him to dinner at her house. He didn’t RSVP, so when the 10-year-old with two dads decided to send him a note thanking him for his support of gay marriage, she wasn’t expecting a reply.

“Dear Barack Obama,” she wrote.”It’s Sophia Bailey Klugh, your friend who invited you to dinner. You don’t remember okay that’s fine. But I just wanted to tell you that I am so glad you agree that two men can love each other, because I have two dads and they love each other, but at school kids think that it’s gross and weird.”
“Totally unprompted, our amazing 10 year old decided to write this letter to Barack Obama,” her dad, Jonathan Bailey, wrote when he posted her note on Facebook. He and is partner, Triton Klugh (whom Sophia calls Papa) are “so unbelievably proud. And maybe we teared up a little.” In her letter, Sophia wrote that her classmates’ reaction “hurts my heart” and that she wrote to the President because “you are my hero.”"If you were me and you had two dads that loved each other, and kids at school teased you about it, what would you do?” she asked.
Imagine her surprise when she looked in her mailbox last week and saw that the President of the United States had written back to her. “In America, no two families look the same. We celebrate this diversity. And we recognize that whether you have two dads or one mom what matters above all is the love we show one another,” Obama wrote (Bailey posted his reply on Facebook as well). “You are very fortunate to have two parents who care deeply for you. They are lucky to have such an exceptional daughter in you.”
“Our differences unite us. You and I are blessed to live in a country where we are born equal no matter what we look like on the outside, where we grow up, or who our parents are,” the President continued. “A good rule is to treat others the way you hope they will treat you. Remind your friends at school about this rule if they say something that hurts your feelings.”

Then he apologized for having missed dinner, and promised “to tell Sasha and Malia you say hello.” “This is not about President Obama, it’s about what’s right,” Jonathan Bailey wrote on Facebook. “Thank you, Barack Obama — you have made one 10-year-old feel mighty special (and her two dads, too). ”