Question 6 – How will you vote?

In a few weeks, Marylanders have the opportunity to vote on Question 6 – The Marriage Equality Act. Voting, “yes”, means you support the right of gay and lesbian couples to be able to legally marry.

Opponents of Question 6 have already hit the airwaves with ads encouraging you to vote, “no”. They don’t want marriage “redefined” and plead that marriage is for the sake of the next generation because children should be raised by the “ideal parents”, meaning a mother and a father.

Unwittingly, they have given you a good reason to vote “yes” on question 6. Numbers are hard to come by, but there are an estimated 6 to 14 million children being raised by same sex couples nationwide. Same sex couples are also raising an estimated 4% of adopted children. You can bet a sizable number of children with same sex parents are being raised here in Maryland.

Legal marriage bestows a lot of rights and support to a married couple and to the children. In fact, there are some 1,200 federal rights and two to three hundred state rights automatically granted once a couple says, “I do.” In addition to the rights, the tax code is written to support families with children, and health care laws are written to guarantee support for the spouse and children.

What the opponents of Question 6 hope you don’t realize is that by denying legal marriage to same sex couples, you are also denying the legal support to the children of same sex couples. In effect, opponents of Question 6 are saying that children of same sex couples aren’t as important as children being raised by “ideal” parents of a man and a woman.

Marriage isn’t being “redefined”. The Marriage Equality Act explicitly protects religious institutions from being forced to perform same sex marriage ceremonies or offering their facilities or support to same sex marriage celebrations. What the Marriage Equality Act does do is grant the same legal protections to same sex couples and their children as married couples and their children currently have.

It really is that simple.

© 2012
Mark Darien
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