Even Jefferson saw need to adapt

Even Jefferson saw need to adapt

I want to urge the Illinois House of Representatives to consider voting in support of gay marriage.

As a person who was “civil unioned” last summer, I can speak firsthand of the separate but equal status my partner and I were relegated to. The fact that I had to explain to elderly relatives that it was kind of like a marriage but not quite was truly irritating.

I entered into a long-term, loving relationship with the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. My feelings for her are the same as any straight couple’s for their spouse, but we are told that what we can celebrate is a civil union instead of a marriage? That the word marriage is reserved for others?

I’m not asking people to embrace my relationship, just to respect it enough to realize that marriage is not only about procreating or protecting families.

We have a daughter that we love very much. Does she not deserve to have her family protected as well?

Thomas Jefferson wrote: “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.“

If this man saw fit to realize that change in our laws would be necessary as we progressed, surely people today can see that. The supporters of gay marriage simply ask that all citizens be treated equally.

Deborah N. Jones

Round Lake