Let all couples enjoy bliss of marriage

Congratulations to Springfield on allowing same-sex marriage to be legal in the state of Illinois.

The Webster Dictionary definition of marriage is: “The act of marrying, wedlock, any close union.“ This mentions nothing about if it can only include a man and a woman. Second, Wikipedia defines marriage “is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them.” Again, I see nothing in that statement about it only being between a man and a woman.

People are married so that they are recognized as a couple by the state, and here’s the clincher, through the eyes of the law, not God. We get married in this country so that both spouses are protected legally in such cases as hospital visits, decisions on medical care, custody of their children, wills, funeral arrangements, etc.

When you have to deal with insurance companies, they don’t ask what religion married you. When you have to go visit your spouse in the hospital, the hospital officials don’t ask the name of your priest in order for you to go into the room. When your spouse dies, the funeral home doesn’t question what church you were married in.

When my wife and I adopted our two children, the adoption agency didn’t ask to see the pretty candles with a cross on it that would have been at our wedding ceremony. They asked for our marriage certificate signed by the state of Illinois.

Marriage is not a religious institution. Even when a priest does marry a couple, he doesn’t say, “And by the power given to me by God.” No, he says, “And by the power given to me by the state of Illinois.”

Let’s allow everyone to enjoy the bliss of marriage.

Shawn Killackey

Mundelein