I base my support of this bill on a couple basics:

- I believe society is right to confer benefits on “committed” family units as a way of fostering social stability and promoting the general welfare. This family “stability” has all sorts of positive effects, such as providing health care (or if needed health care advocates) through caring people you know, providing parents for child rearing, and providing an economic cushion for job loss (at least in the case of two wage earners), to take just a few examples.

- While I think religious institutions have the right to dictate who may or may not be “married” according to their beliefs, I don’t believe our government should discriminate based on things such as sexual identity among consenting adults.

While I am not gay and I am married, I am not disturbed by “gay marriage” as a civil institution - quite the opposite, I think it should be available. I know gay people (both friends and family) - some of whom once were married - and I see no reason that they should be deprived of all the meaning and societal benefits of a committed relationship merely because of their sexual identity. In fact, I think that it is in society’s interest to privilege such stable, committed relationships among gay people in the same way as it does among heterosexual married people.

I appreciate it!