LETTER: Gay marriage is logical

Editor,

I found Bill Wilson’s reasoning against gay marriage severely flawed in his letter published Sept. 10, but typical of many in this culture that still encourages homophobia.

Although marriage is an ancient tradition (so is slavery) legally uniting a man and a woman, that doesn’t mean it can’t be broadened to include same-sex couples. They too promise to love, honor, cherish, and care for one another until death.

Marriage can have all the solemnity for same sex couples it now has for heterosexual couples. And any positive “insurance policy” it might have on keeping heterosexual couples together would also apply to same-sex couples. Why not provide all children with the same safeguards?

Wilson argues “with a gay union there are no biological children …” Should the marriage licenses of childless heterosexual couples, and those with adopted children, be disavowed? Although marriage is much more than merely raising children, many gay parents do have children they themselves bore or fathered.

The idea that same-sex couples should enter into unions “able to care for themselves” harkens back to the days when women were considered less than men and unable to take care of themselves. It is dismaying to realize those days, for many, are not history.

Claiming not to be “against gayness” only amplifies one’s prejudicial sentiments. I find those who are not friends with openly gay people have extremely inaccurate ideas of “gayness.”

It is imperative to challenge the cruel and illogical arguments stemming from anti-gay social training. Otherwise, those views will continue to influence people – people who will become judges and politicians. Some even become president.

Mark Ellis