By Cokie & Steven Roberts

United Media

We’re “hosting a local celebration,” said the invitation, for two couples getting married this summer. The hosts didn’t bother to mention that one of the couples, Kevin and Grant, are gay.

This is one small sign of a large social trend. More gay couples are forming committed relationships, and for a simple reason. Wanting a partner, a soul mate, to share one’s life is the most elemental of human emotions.

Many of these couples would like to get married. Some of that impulse is practical -- merging tax returns or sharing health benefits. But the deeper motive is psychological -- making a public promise, to the world and to each other.

As Kevin told us: “Each of us has found what most people spend a lifetime looking for -- the one person who knows us better than any other, the person who will sacrifice for the other, the person who will care for and protect the other.” Adds Grant: “Marriage is about creating family. Kevin will be my family after July 8th.”