I am writing in response to Ben Cady's opinion column ("Gay Marriage and John Kerry," Oct. 20). The column is sloppy and deals with the issue of gay marriage as an election issue in a very poor way.
Cady insinuates that both Kerry and Edwards actually support gay marriage and they're just being told not to support it by their advisors. This claim is completely unfounded and to mention such a possibility is to miss the real issue. After making this ridiculous assertion he drops it by the wayside and makes numerous allusions to racial politics of the '60s. These are only half relevant and are largely meant to play to emotional heartstrings. This is not good journalism.
Both Bush and Kerry publicly say they believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That point is ultimately not entirely important, as what they do with that belief is.
President Bush sees his belief as an end. He sees the issue as black and white, for him it is evil and thus he should do what he can to prevent anyone from doing it. It takes a lot of guts to make and attempt to push the country in a moral direction. The problem is, that's not his job, something John Kerry recognizes.
Marriage may be a sacred institution, for those that are religious. However, in the eyes of the state, which is separate from religion, marriage is simply a legal institution, it is a contractual arrangement between two parties. It is for this reason that you can be married by a judge, you aren't forced to marry within the church, and in fact the only reason that you can be married in the church is because the state has given power to the church officials to do so. Marriage in this country is a legal institution, not to say that it cannot have a spiritual element to it, but that is individual choice. As marriage is legal contract we cannot discriminate on the basis of race, sex, creed, sexual orientation, or belief system.
It is important when we deal with issues such as gay marriage that we present the important and relevant facts. That is what makes an effective argument. We should not guess at what candidates think rather we should present facts. There are too many Al Frankens, Bill O'Reillys, Ann Coulters, and Michael Moores who present some facts and a lot of irrelevant information that makes them easy to dismiss. If we stick to simple facts and present arguments in a clear and concise manner it will be much easier to actually work out the issues in this election.
