Editor:

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding gay marriage over the past few months. There are arguments for why it should be allowed and arguments against allowing it, and these discussions confuse me.

Every human being is created equal. The egalitarian principle upon which America was founded implies a right to a life of liberty. TheDeclaration of Independenceexplicitlystates, “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Liberty is defined as: “The condition of being free from restriction or control and the right and power to act, believe or express oneself in a manner of one’s own choosing.” Defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman obviously limits the liberties of those who wish to believe homosexuality is not a sin and wish to act in marrying their partners. How can one then justify an amendment to the Constitution that would limit someone’s liberties and pursuit of happiness?

The only way to do so is to define homosexuals as something “not quite human.” This is a familiar argument to anyone who has studied slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries and segregation in the 20th century. Only by thinking of the “other” as “not human” can these laws be justified. Only by considering homosexuals as “not human,” not men, undeserving of the rights of “all men [who] are created equal,” can opponents of gay marriage justify to themselves their belief in the principles upon which America was founded and the rightness of restricting homosexual marriage, simultaneously. Of course, these same people argue on religiousgrounds for why homosexual marriage needs to be outlawed. One look at the First Amendment of the Constitution shows, however, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

This fragment of a sentence disqualifies all religious justifications of a Defense of Marriage Amendment, leaving only the dehumanization of gays as justification.

Segregation of the population into “those who can marry” and “those who cannot” is sexual apartheid. I thought we as a nationleft segregation behind with the Ku Klux Klan. I guess I was wrong.

Elijah J. Gregory

Senior, Chemistry