Your Opinion: Response on gay marriage

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond respectfully to Mr. Kennon's letter published on May 16 regarding same gender marriage. I am also a Christian. I get irritated when people make blanket statements implying that all Christians are against same gender marriage. I agree with Mr. Kennon that marriage is one of the sacraments and heterosexual marriage is vital to society. Mr. Kennon stated that he is not here to judge, but the content of his letter is nothing but judgmental.

What President Obama supports is civil marriage for same gender couples. This is very different than the sacrament of marriage in a church. In the United States, legal relationship rights are bundled with a civil marriage license. The only way any couple can obtain these relationship rights (such as Social Security survivor's benefits and filing joint tax returns) is through a civil marriage license. Without a civil marriage license, lawyers can draft legal contracts to cover a few of these rights but for not most.

There has been much debate about what determines a person's sexual orientation. To my knowledge, this has yet to be proven beyond any doubt. Mr. Kennon suggested in his letter that same gender attraction is not natural, but if it was, he could "understand the right to marry man with man and woman with woman." I suggest both same and opposite sex attraction are both natural. Very few people, heterosexual or homosexual, have the ability to control the gender they are attracted to.

Some people cite the Bible as reason to oppose same gender civil marriage. I find it suspect that many of these people pick a few verses out of the Bible about same gender relationships but ignore many others that apply to things they do in their own lives. As a Christian, I believe we all need to accept Jesus as our savior. We need to follow the Golden Rule, do unto others as we would have them do unto us . The Bible is very clear about warning us not to judge other people.

Perhaps this is because we cannot comprehend God's complexity and the mystery of his works and methods. I will close with this. I sincerely doubt God determines a couple's marital status based on a civil marriage license issued by a county clerk.