Letter: Marriage made difficult

The Marriage Equality Act passed last week guaranteeing and protecting the marriage rights of gay and interracial couples. This action was necessitated in light of the recent overturning of Roe. However, this law does not require states to issue marriage licenses to such couples.

To be clear, the passage of this federal law protects the rights of anyone can marry anyone he/she chooses but the state will have the ultimate authority to approve such a union and either issue a license or deny it. Thus, a couple in a state which chooses not to issue a marriage license will be forced to travel to a state that will issue the marriage licenses.

Shouldn't states be required to follow federal laws or can states pick and choose what laws they wish to follow of ignore? And if states can pick and choose their favorite laws and ignore those they disagree with, what is the purpose of the federal government and federal laws?

William J. Filstead

Arlington Heights