This Father's Day ad from JCPenney features a family with two dads.

As the United States celebrates Father's Day 2012, it is good to reflect on the importance of fathers. In the same week in which gay parents have been assaulted by the publication of junk science intended to denigrate them, an attractive male couple raising children has been thrust into the spotlight and a straight father has written a touching article about his love and support for his gay son.

In a beautifully written and richly detailed New York Times article by Dominick Zarrillo, the father of one of the plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case, discusses his love for his son.

He concludes the piece by reflecting on the toll that the long delay in implementing the court rulings in the Prop 8 case has had on his son and his partner.

"As this Father's Day approached, all I could think about was how much I want my son to experience the joys of being a father, how much I want him to marry the person he loves and to raise a family.

"For now, he is still waiting, and fighting. I see how much the struggle costs him, how discouraging it is that despite his strength and patience and faith in the system, the ultimate decision rests in the hands of those who have yet to act.

"One day soon, though, the powers that be are going to do the right thing. I'm his father, and it's Father's Day, so let me believe it. One day soon they're going to let my brave, beautiful boy walk the same path we all get to take home."

Dallas area couple Todd Koch and Cooper Smith were thrust into the national spotlight when a picture of them with their two children was used in the Father's Day issue of the JC Penney catalog. The lunatic right immediately attacked JC Penney's for featuring a gay couple, but as Smith writes in a feature article at The Advocate, most of the reaction has been gratifyingly positive.

"This Father's Day," Smith explains, "Todd and I received one of the best gifts any person, father or not, can receive--the gift of overwhelming love and support."

He recounts that "Since the beautiful two-page photo spread of us laughing and tickling our children Claire and Mason went public, our picture has spread like wildfire across social media, has been flashed on TV screens in just about every media market in the country and has been covered by international press, including CNN, MSNBC, Time magazine and London's Daily Mail."

Notwithstanding some hateful notes and the attack of the numerically challenged One Million Moms, "the response to our famiy has been overwhelmingly positive--shockingly positive, in fact."

Smith concludes, "Personally, it's warmed our hearts and renewed our faith that most Americans are fair-minded people and that there's a helluva lot more love out there for families like ours than we ever knew.

"And that's the greatest Father's Day gift of all."

In the video below, the JC Penney Dads are interviewed on a local Dallas television station.

At the end of the video below, from a press conference after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declares Proposition 8 unconstitutional in February 2012, Dominick Zarrillo expresses his love for his son and soon-to-be son-in-law.