I get quite a bit of email like this. I think it’s pretty interesting:
Jonah,
I just finished reading the “G-File” and I must commend you on a great article.
As a white, conservative, gay male, I must agree with you on the issue of “marriage.” I was brought up in a home with a mother and father and was taught that marriage was between a man and a woman. To this day, I honor and respect that. However, at the same time I do not feel that I should be punished for living with my partner.
According to the 2000 Census there are 11 million people who are unmarried and living together. This includes both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The last time I checked the news, the world did not stop because these people were not married and living together and the institution of marriage has not crumbled like a house of cards.
Marriage like most institutions learns to adapt and change with the times, or else it crumbles.
I, like you, am in favor of a “civil union” of some sort, which will allow me the same rights as a heterosexual couple has. My partner and I had to fill out numerous papers, so that if (God forbid) anything happened to one of us, the other one had a say in what treatment was pursued. However, by the same token, we have to have those papers with us at all times when ever we travel. When you travel in the U.S., with your wife, do you carry your marriage certificate with you? I would assume that you do not, but if something were to happen to you (or vice-versa), they would not look twice when you would request information.
If you were to take a poll of most homosexuals, and ask them if they would want marriage, or the same rights as a heterosexual, most would say that the equal rights would be more important.
It would be the perfect compromise; the conservatives get to keep the institution of “marriage,” while the homosexuals get “equal treatment.” Moreover, the U.S. Constitution is not amended because a SCOTUS ruling upsets a few people.
Sincerely,
[Name Withheld]
P.S. Most gay people look at heterosexual sex as “icky.” Therefore, I guess it is relative. (No implication of incest intended.)