In the six months since marriage equality has been a reality in Iowa, I have had the privilege of being present for more than two dozen same-sex weddings.

I married two women who fell in love in a small-town Iowa high school more than five years ago. Before the ceremony, I struck up a conversation with one of the fathers. I could sense he was unsure about his daughter marrying a woman, but he thanked me for being willing to officiate. Then, something caught in his throat as he said, "You know, all parents really want is for their children to be happy."

More than half the same-sex couples I have married are parents. Their weddings have all included mentions of love and care for the kids. How can any of us tout the importance of family values if we aren't willing to value these loving families?

Nine couples traveled by bus from St. Paul, Minn., for an afternoon of weddings. One of those couples would not have come had their children not demanded that they go. Another couple, both women in their 70s, together for 17 years, wore flower garlands in their hair and said their wedding was "like a dream come true." Eight hours of bus travel for weddings that would not be legally recognized in their home state, and no one seemed to mind because, for a day at least, these couples were not being treated as second-class citizens.

I gathered with two Florida men for their wedding, 27 years in the making. When we got to the Declaration of Consent, each of these men, in his turn, interrupted me before I could complete the question with a hearty, "I do." They weren't being funny or cute. They just didn't want to wait another moment. They had waited long enough.

In the days to come, I expect there to be well-funded efforts to take away the rights of my newly married friends. But I, for one, will not sit idly by when this happens. I will stand up for them. I will stand up for their loving, mutually satisfying relationships. I will stand up for their children. I will stand on the side on the side of love. Now that I have seen the world from the vantage point of justice and equality at last, I have no other choice.