All unions make society stronger
I am sorry that Mr. Mitchell of Hainesville felt it necessary to weigh in against The Daily Herald's editorial on gay marriage( May 31).
He believes that homosexual relationships offer nothing to society and heterosexual couples produce and raise the next generation of citizens. While I can respect the fact that he is entitled to believe his relationship is more important to society, I could not disagree with him more.
My loving, long-term relationship with my female partner is no less valuable than his may be. I may not be able to get a piece of paper that says I am legally married, but that does not diminish the fact that we pay taxes, raise children, volunteer our time in the community and contribute to society just like married couples do.
The only difference is that I could be barred from visiting my partner in an emergency medical situation or making medical decisions for her without help from an attorney. We are not allowed to file joint tax returns and share health insurance coverage. I cannot pass on my Social Security benefits or my military retirement package to her even though she is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.
If Mr. Mitchell has kids, they go to the same school with mine and play on the same sport teams. I don't need a marriage license to raise outstanding kids; I need to lead them by example. My kids are taught to respect by watching us be respectful to others. They learn to volunteer by seeing us spend hundreds of hours volunteering to coach youth sport programs, sit on community boards and volunteer for political, environmental and community events that benefit all of our neighborhoods. We teach them not to hate.
That being said, I would love to have my relationship be set on equal footing with those of my straight neighbors. I offer a compromise to those who get hung up on the definition of marriage. Unlike some of my gay friends who insist that a "separate but equal" civil union tag is wrong, I would like to see it be used for all civil ceremonies. Gay or straight, if you get married in a civil ceremony, it gets called a Civil Union. You get all the benefits of marriage without the title. If you get married in a church, it gets called a marriage.
I am willing to compromise on what it is called but not what it stands for. I should be able to enter into a long-term partnership with the women I love and intend to be with for the rest of my life. Does anyone really believe that getting more couples to enter into long-term binding, monogamous relationships hurts our society? I don't.
Debbie Jones
Round Lake