Letter: Stand up for families and vote ‘No’ on marriage amendment

To the editor:

This letter is in response to a letter published in the May 3, 2012, edition of your newspaper titled “Redefining marriage would have ‘negative consequences.’”

The writer suggests our society is threatened by moral depravity if same-sex unions are recognized, that even our government will promote homosexuality to our children. This is fear and ignorance talking. Currently, students who study thematic units on the topic of families are introduced to the diverse make-up of households including same-sex couples raising children. This is meant to promote understanding and acceptance, two concepts that appear to elude the writer.

Why do people enter into marriage? I believe it is “a union centered on the romantic affections of two consenting adults” committed to supporting each other in life’s pursuits as partners. This may or may not include raising a family. Indeed, having sex and bearing children is easily done outside of marriage and, unfortunately, occurs all too often without the foresight of a joint commitment on the part of the couple. There are single-parent households that support children in a nurturing environment, despite the absence of a father or mother. Conversely, there are many households where the married husband and wife are in strife and unhappy, what kind of relationship do they model for their children?

A couple who are positive, loving nurturers for growing children is what we hope for in a family so those same children grow up healthy and become contributing members to society, whether they are biological, fostered or adopted offspring. Same-sex couples contribute to the tax base, help stimulate the economy and support their communities. Why would we deny them the right to be legally recognized for their loving commitment to each other?

Last I heard we are still a country based on democratic principles, not Christian sect doctrine. It frustrates me how individuals who subscribe to a certain philosophy have the compulsion to force others to align with their thinking. There are several churches in our country supporting same-sex unions while upholding Christian values. How can there be so many interpretations based on the same basic information? Who’s to say which is the intended? God only knows.

As I see it, this is no different than the suffragists working to gain the right to vote or Black Americans campaigning for civil rights. According to our state constitution “Sec. 2. Rights and Privileges. No member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.” No law has been broken. There is no good reason same-sex couples are deprived of the same rights and privileges as male-female unions.

Join me on Nov. 6 in standing up for all families and their basic rights, and resisting religious persecution as law.

Shelley Kurzeka-Jung

Welch

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