In the recent letter titled "Nothing anti-gay about view" the author's statement that redefining marriage "opens the door for any number of unsavory and ruinous unions" is not only false but offensive. Whether you agree with same sex marriage or not, it does not change the fact that same-sex couples have lives not unlike opposite-sex couples. We live together, raise children together, are active in our communities and might even be your neighbor.
What is different is that we are devalued, delegitimized and denied the same rights, responsibilities, opportunities and protections as opposite-sex couples. Health insurance, employee benefits, rights under tax laws, child custody, economic and property protections, health care decisions, Social Security and Medicaid, even the right to claim our partner's remains at death are denied us. It is impossible, even with carefully drafted legal documents, for a same-sex couple to come close to achieving the security and certainty the law automatically affords married couples. We pay into the system, but are legal strangers under the law.
The author's assumption "there is nothing anti-gay about this point of view; it is instead a pro-family stance" is ignorant of the facts. If you truly believe in supporting families then please support giving same-sex couples the same protections under the law that opposite couples receive to support their families. Anything less is not "pro family."
Kim Williams
Vienna
