Here are some of the messages that I have received lately.

Religious and personal spiritual views aside, homosexuals should have the same legal rights as heterosexual as far as marriage and civil unions are concerned. This right should strictly be a responsibility of state governments.  However, legalization of gay marriage should not become a matter of government overpowering freedom of religious institutions because church and state should and must according to the Constitution, remain independent.

-Molly

I think that everyone should have the right to a marriage.  There are too many benefits and societal expectations associated with marriage  to exclude so many people from getting married.

-Kat

I think that the fact the question of gay marriage
is even still an issue in people’s minds is absurd.  It’s such a
small, petty semantics debate and that it’s taking a priority to
other, hugely more important things – such as the economy, health
care, Iraq, etc. – is a sad reflection on the closed-mindedness we can
sometimes exhibit.  I in no way agree with it and think it’s
ridiculously unnecessary but I can see how people can get up in arms
about calling it marriage vs. a civil union.  That is maybe the only
thing that should be at issue here.  That two people aren’t allowed to
have the same rights simply because they are the same gender is so
backwards and against everything this country stands for and it’s
quite sad.

-DJ

Thanks for reading!

Here are some of the statements that I have been sent:

Hi Leah,

Here are my thoughts on the issue of gay marriage:

Those who oppose gay marriage say that it undermines the family unit and the sanctity of marriage.
However, straight people have about a 50% rate of divorce, and could marry someone they don’t love, and yet that is not as unhealthy to the family unit as having parents with matching biological parts.

Those who oppose gay marriage say it’s unnatural, since children can’t be produced.
However, there are plenty of straight couples who have sex without producing children, or who biologically can’t produce children – plus what’s so wrong with having couples who might adopt!

There is this general fear that people who are different will somehow corrupt you – gay people being married will not taint anyone, despite the conspiracy theories circulating about gay propaganda in school.
If anything, giving gay people the right to marry will teach tolerance and equality, instead of hatred and alienation.

I think if everyone who opposes gay marriage realized that they probably have a close friend or family member who is gay, who deserves the right to publicly share their life with a loved one if they so chose, maybe they wouldn’t oppose it anymore.

Hope NO wins, and good luck with your project!
~Elise

I support same-sex marriage.

In the first place, the idea of marriage should emphasize the union between two people and should infer the same legal benefits regardless of sex–otherwise it seems all gender-equality laws are also in jeopardy. Second, I feel that recognizing marriage as a legal bind inherently feels like a breach of the religion/state boundary that doesn’t seem to hold any more. Being against same-sex marriage tends to be either personal opinion or based on “religious” dictions. The arguments don’t tend to have any legitimacy in social or legal bounds that the state should be concerned with, therefore demonstrating an obvious breach of religion and government.

Hope this helps Leah!

-Cory

Hey Leah,

I think this quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” says it all:

Love looks no with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.

I think marriage is a contract between two people who are so deeply in love, and love is something that goes far beyond the skin or biological structure.  Shakespeare was a guy who knew how to word the most simple concepts into beautiful phrases, and I believe that he’s managed to capture the concept of love easily into two lines.  Marriage is only a deeper form of love!

Josh

If you have an opinion that differs from this, or if you would like to share a similar opinion, please email me at righttomarry4me@gmail.com

Thanks!

- Leah

Thanks for following!