Gay marriage lowers standards

Ms. Ellen Goodman's April 19 OP ED "Same-sex unions changing state by state" is a very shallow argument for affirming in law same-sex marriages. Improving one's tax position or acquiring additional retirement benefits are lousy reasons for pursuing marriage.

Marriage, as understood by all the world's major religions and thousands of years of human history, is the recognized bond of one man and one woman forming the basis for a family, including children begotten by the same one man and one woman.

Homosexual relationships are, by definition, always sterile and homosexual acts and merely imitations of the heterosexual bond.

Children are best raised by a female mother and a male father despite the occasional failures of either. Single parents and same-sex caregivers can never give the full range of emotional interaction as do two opposite sexed parents. Boys need fathers as well as mothers. Girls need mothers as well as fathers.

The modern day difficulties of maintaining an intact family is no reason to give up on this very sound standard. The government recognizes the unique influence opposite sexed parents have on raising the next generation and therefore affords certain tax and economic considerations in order to lessen the burden on this foundational unit of society.

We the people, as Ms. Goodman claims, have not overall changed our minds about the paramount importance of heterosexual relationships, rather this issue has been hijacked by activist judges.

Regardless of what militant activists, counter cultural elites and pandering politicians espouse, "gay marriage" will always be a poor imitation of the real thing.

Mike McKay

Wauconda