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EDITORIAL
An issue of equality
In several cities and counties across the
country, mayors and other officials have authorized marriage licenses for
thousands of gay couples, drawing both support and criticism. Images on
television and in newspapers have heightened what The New York Times on
Sunday said is becoming the next civil rights battle. Indeed, a national
debate is emerging on the institution of marriage.
President Bush has added fuel to the debate’s
fire by calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.
The president’s plans, an obvious election-year ploy, come as several
states have taken action recently on gay marriages. One of those states
is Ohio, where lawmakers approved a measure stating that same-sex marriage
is “against the strong policy of the state.” The law, House
Bill 272, which Governor Bob Taft signed last month and will take affect
in May, codifies discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Governments should be promoting equality and justice.
Instead, lawmakers in Columbus and Washington, D.C., are pushing laws that
diminish some relationships. The Ohio law and the Bush administration’s
plans to pursue a federal amendment banning gay marriage, however, serve
to drive a wedge between Americans, and enshrine intolerance as public policy.
The traditionalist, and limited, view says that
marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman, who should procreate
and raise a family. Gay-marriage opponents often paint this debate in terms
of a moral issue. But isn’t the promotion of healthy, loving relationships,
regardless of makeup, also moral? Would it not benefit society to encourage
stable marriages, whether those unions are between straight or gay people?
The traditional viewpoint also glosses over the reality that gays and lesbians
can raise families, too. How we define marriage should evolve to include
gays and lesbians. To say that gay couples cannot wed is to say that their
relationships, their love, are somehow less significant, and, therefore,
unequal.
At the very least, gay couples should have the right
to enter into civic unions that would ensure couples benefits and other
rights that come with marriage. Eventually, however, gays should gain the
right to marry, and all 50 states and the federal government should recognize
those marriages. Such a right is a matter of equality.
—Robert Mihalek |
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