This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There is no constitutional basis for denying gay couples marriage, and every constitutional reason why our government should actively pursue legalizing gay marriage to give gay men and lesbians their rights as equal citizens of the United States. Our government's purpose is to defend the rights of all the people. If churches don't believe in sanctifying gay marriages, they do not have to perform them.
Same-sex couples prohibited from marrying are excluded from a panoply of legal benefits specifically tied to legally recognized marriage: access to a spouse's medical, life and disability insurance; medical decisions and many others.
Our government was set up from the beginning to preserve the rights of its citizens. Nowhere in either the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence is there outlined a governmental responsibility or power to reward only behaviors the government or the masses like. Our government's job is to protect the rights of all of us, including those who are gay, not to uphold the irrational prejudices of the masses. It is the government's responsibility not to uphold in this case the prejudiced will of the people, no matter how much of a majority they constitute, but to defend the rights of its people.
The state's job is not to promote popular morality or opinion but the rights of its citizens. Gay marriage should be legalized.
Diane Mellen
Park City