The institution of marriage, which is older than the religion most Americans who support marriage discrimination use to justify their bigotry, has been evolving as long as it has existed.
It began as a business contract between two families and had absolutely nothing to do with love: the bride's father sold his daughter to the groom in exchange for goods and services. The idea that love plays some sort of role in marriage is only a couple of centuries old, and has arguably only come to fruition in recent decades.
Women's bodies and experiences have been treated as commodities to be exploited by men throughout the history of Western civilization and continue to be treated as such today. Were it not for a societal redefinition of marriage as a contract of love rather than business, women's social status would still put them closer to livestock than men. So maybe marriage needs to be redefined, to continue down the path of human equality rather than the hierarchical social structure with wealthy, heterosexual, white men as real humans and everybody else as second- or third-class.
The hatred that fills recent letters opposing marriage equality and the hearts of a majority of voters in 2004 will do nothing but hurt the Mid-Ohio Valley and the state at large. Not only will businesses and the state miss out on the money that comes from more weddings, you stand to lose more college-educated citizens (who tend to make significantly more money and overwhelmingly support marriage equality) to places without constitutional amendments declaring at least 10 percent of the population as second-class citizens.
Just two months after I first came out to another person in 2004, the voters of my home state told me I don't belong. I left as soon as I could and have not looked back. I was a citizen of New York when they legalized marriage equality, and I wept with joy that night. My new home doesn't acknowledge my right to marry yet, but at least I'm not constitutionally defined as less human than my heterosexual counterparts. Until equality is the national standard, I plan to work with LGBT teens to undo the damage done by closed-mindedness and bigotry in the hopes of preventing teenage suicide attempts that are more successful than mine was. If God exists, I know He'd be prouder of my love and acceptance than the hatred some choose to spew in His name.
Alex Meeks
Philadelphia, Pa.
