Letter to the Editor: Marriage a fundamental right

I am writing in response to the Oct. 17 letter, "Gay marriage is not a right." Steve Nigh writes that marriage has in every case included opposite sex couples and excluded same-sex couples. The nations of the Netherlands and Belgium, along with two Canadian provinces, now extend civil marriage rights to same-sex couples. Even a number of Episcopalian, United Church of Christ and other congregations in the U.S. bless same-sex unions. Plainly, not every case excludes gay families.

Next Nigh states that no law states or implies authorities are obligated to include or exclude any particular group. However, there are in fact a number of cases proving this incorrect. In the 1999 Baker v. Vermont case that sparked civil unions, the chief justice wrote, "We hold that the State is constitutionally required to extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law." The U.S. Supreme Court in Zablocki v. Redhail and Loving v. Virginia has established that the freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. (There the Supreme Court goes, using that dreaded "r" word--rights.)

Clearly, courts have interpreted laws proclaiming equal protection and fairness to extend to gays and lesbians as well as women and racial minorities.

Marriage in the U.S. means the automatic granting of over 1,400 benefits. In current legal status, a gay couple that has been together for 20 years has none of the rights of a man and woman who met and eloped yesterday. Since the government has chosen to bestow benefits based upon marital status, the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that those benefits be available to every citizen. Whether you choose to call it marriage or civil union, gay men and lesbians are entitled to equal protection under the law.