I’m a 71-year-old male motivated to respond to Barbara A. Peterson’s Jan. 9 letter, “Same-sex marriage not God’s design.” Peterson gets it all wrong. Marriage equality is not a matter of religion — it is a matter of recognition by the state in order to receive a license.
Whether God supports homosexuality is not the question here, though I would argue that a God in favor of discrimination is no God I can believe in.
The question here, as Gov. Chris Gregoire so eloquently stated, is why does our state deny a marriage license? “In issuing a license, the state should not involve itself in an applicant’s religion,” Gregoire said when she announced her support for same-sex marriage. “The responsibility of the state is to license only. The right of a church is to decide whom to marry.”
The marriage license protects families in times of need, helps protect legal interests of gay and lesbian couples, and codifies that protection in law. Essentially, it protects love and respect for all people, straight or gay.
