Stop The Assault On Homosexual Couples.

In 1802, in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, Thomas Jefferson wrote The Wall of Separation. In it he gave his brief view on how religious establishments and the Government should interact and the way of avoiding that being a separation between the two. It has since been adopted in our system of Government ever since and reaffirmed when the Supreme Court made mention of it in its opinion in Everson v. Board of Education.

It is, in my opinion, we keep this line clear in all aspects of governing. We have to find a way to coexist in a society where religious organizations and the government be kept on their own sides of the dividing line. The law cannot be based solely on religious principles alone like in the shunning of Homosexuals and their right to enter into a marriage.

The court at one time recognized marriage as a fundamental right. In Loving v Virginia marriage was recognized by Chief Justice Warren and the court as a fundamental right to all.

“Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State”.

Even though here the issue was racial, the fourteenth amendment and its principle of equality for all include members of the gay community and their right to enter into marriage with one another. As stated by Chief Justice Warren the principle of Equality is at the heart of the 14th amendment. With that in mind why not allow homosexual couples to get married? My thought is one on religious basis only is religious and I believe this to fatal. Laws cannot reflect religious views. Once we cross that line of separation of the Church and State, that President Jefferson spoke of in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, we lose our very basic freedom; the right to associate with whoever or whatever we choose. Homosexual, in some cases have chosen to enter into a marriage with someone of the same sex. What they see to be normal just as I feel it to be normal for me to enter into marriage with someone of the opposite sex. Despite one’s view religiously, the rule of law has to let them do so or it is simply undemocratic.

Every generation of Americans have seen discrimination of a class of peoples for race, ethnicity, and in my generation homosexuals and sexual preferences. I want to stop this head on. We have to stop this head on. This nation is based on the principle of a free people, a people with the right to do anything they choose inside the parameters of law.