In this weeks Time Magazine you’ll find “Guess Who’s Coming…,” which highlights the story of a conservative straight couple who reached out to gay family in need.

When Forrest King was told by the American Red Cross and FEMA that they would not assist him in finding a Katrina family in need of a place to stay to share his home with, he took the matter into his own hands.

“The government failed,” says King. “The citizens have to stand up and say, ‘Get out of the way. We’ll take care of our own.'”

King, a “dyed-in-the-wool conservative,” and his wife have been sharing their home with the Meehan-Hoo family (a lesbian couple with three children) who they found on Open Your Home. They have offered their home indefinitely.

Yolanda and Jan Meehan-Hoo evacuated Slidell, La., with their children and Yolanda’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s and diabetes, one day before the hurricane hit. They drove away from the storm for more than 28 hours, averaging 10 m.p.h. most of the way. The brakes of their gray Suzuki Esteem hatchback eventually gave out, so they rode the emergency brake. “I said, ‘C’mon, baby, you gotta get us out of here,'” says Yolanda. “She names her cars. This one was Betsy,” explains Jan, laughing and holding Yolanda’s hand in the Attleboro kitchen.

Finally, they reached Yolanda’s father’s house in Port St. John, Fla., where they rested for a few days. But they were having trouble getting a wheelchair and other assistance for Yolanda’s mother. Jan convinced Yolanda that their best bet was to return to Boston, where they had met and married before moving to Louisiana only two months before Katrina’s landfall. “I’ve been a Bostonian all my life. They’ll help us there,” she said. Jan and Sonny, 5, went to Boston to look for options. Meanwhile, Yolanda signed up on openyourhome.com The next day, she got a call from King.

King comments:

“The adults are same sex, and I don’t care,” he says. “I don’t care if they’re purple and got horns coming out of their faces. They’re Americans first.”

And he’s learned they aren’t very different from anyone else:

“The other day I heard them arguing with each other in the stairway. It proves to me that same-sex couples are just as miserable as the rest of us,” says King, laughing, as his wife and the Meehan-Hoos shake their heads in exasperation, like family.