Marriage as defined

Editor: In response to Roger Jack Young my question is: why do you care?  How does it affect you, Roger Jack, if marriage is something that gay people want?  If you aren’t gay, what difference does it make to you what term is used to describe a life commitment between two human beings?  As an (I’m assuming) heterosexual male, there is nothing taken away from you, no rights denied.  You are free to marry whichever woman you choose even if you just met her in a bar in Vegas the same night, while gay couples who have lived together for 30 years in a committed and loving relationship still can’t marry one another.  This begs the question of which scenario best describes marriage and its true meaning?  

Marriage is defined by the Encarta Dictionary as: a legally recognized relationship, established by a civil or religious ceremony, between two people who intend to live together as sexual and domestic partners.

I urge you Roger Jack, to realize that we all want the same thing in this world: to be loved by another person completely and to be able to express that love with recognition from others.  So again, as long as you can marry someone and have all the benefits afforded therein, why do you care so much about defining a term for people who just want the same?

Kristen Loomer
Sonoma