To the Editor:
Re “California’s Ban on Gay Marriage Is Struck Down” (front page, Aug. 5):
It takes courage, conscience and integrity for a federal judge to
support homosexual marriage and risk criticism during these puritanical,
homophobic times.
Your article quotes Judge Vaughn R. Walker as saying, “Excluding
same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a
legitimate state interest.”
Let me add that it is not related to legitimate national interests
either. With our country’s separation of church and state, it is also a
strictly secular-based decision, supported by our Constitution, that
appropriately disregards religious input and psychological fear, and
supports the civil rights of all citizens.
Robert N. Shorin
Syosset, N.Y., Aug. 6, 2010
Note from KBJ: Hilarious! The letter writer thinks "state," in the legal expression "legitimate state interest," refers to the 50 states. It refers to government (at any level). As for the final paragraph, the letter writer thinks there are no nonreligious reasons for limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Am I religious? Somebody get this man a critical-thinking course, fast!
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 