Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Edwin Meese III writes that traditional marriage “is a unique institution that promotes the interests of child-rearing,” and that “those interests are broader than the personal special interests of the adults involved.”

There is zero evidence that gay couples cannot raise children as competently as their heterosexual counterparts. As a college student and a gay American, I can attest that all of my friends—gay and straight—have the same goals. We hope to fall in love; we hope to raise stable families; we hope to have fulfilling careers.

It is time for the courts to uphold our right to pursue these basic routes to happiness.

Peter W. Fulham
Newton, Mass., Jan. 11, 2010

Note from KBJ: This young man has the same right as everyone else, namely, to marry someone of the opposite sex. The law need no more cater to his unusual sexual proclivities than it need cater to the proclivities of those who want to marry themselves, their pets, their cars, their siblings, their children, or multiple others.

Note 2 from KBJ: The "goals" mentioned by the letter writer—falling in love, raising a stable family, having a fulfilling career—can be achieved without marriage. You don't need to be married to fall in love; you don't need to be married to raise a stable family; you don't need to be married to have a fulfilling career. Why the letter writer even mentioned these things is puzzling. He must think that without marriage, his life is meaningless and devoid of happiness.