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TechnographColumn: Marriage matters
By Dan Mollison
Posted: 10/12/05 Section: Opinions
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I am a heterosexual, and from my experience I've learned that many heterosexuals find the thought of homosexuality uncomfortable. To be honest, it's made me feel uncomfortable before, too. But even if the thought of homosexuality makes me uneasy, real people suffer when the law enforces my discomfort. Real people can't visit the bedsides of their dying partners at hospitals, real people in committed partnerships don't receive the same health benefits that I will when I am married, and real people aren't being offered the same tax benefits that I will be.
I'm in a relationship right now with someone I am deeply in love with. I can't describe how wonderful it feels to be with and share my life with her. Anyone who has loved another can understand this. I can only imagine what it would feel like to share this connection with someone, this deep love, and not only have the society I live in reject it, but also have the government tell me that it "doesn't count" in its most basic legal sense. This is the sad reality that many Americans are facing right now.
Wolfson said that, "the most important benefit of marriage is marriage." I think that I'm now beginning to understand what that truly means. America has granted all of us the right to be both equal and different, and so marriage equality is as much a matter of principle as it is about denying protections to American families. Homosexuals are paying far too huge a price for being different.
I'm in a relationship right now with someone I am deeply in love with. I can't describe how wonderful it feels to be with and share my life with her. Anyone who has loved another can understand this. I can only imagine what it would feel like to share this connection with someone, this deep love, and not only have the society I live in reject it, but also have the government tell me that it "doesn't count" in its most basic legal sense. This is the sad reality that many Americans are facing right now.
Wolfson said that, "the most important benefit of marriage is marriage." I think that I'm now beginning to understand what that truly means. America has granted all of us the right to be both equal and different, and so marriage equality is as much a matter of principle as it is about denying protections to American families. Homosexuals are paying far too huge a price for being different.
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