Jovel Queirolo
Sacred Heart Editor

Equal marriage rights for single-sex couples are driving the next great American civil rights movement. After Proposition 8 passed last month with 52.5 percent of the vote and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry, marches and protests sprang up around the country reminiscent of crowds who fought for equal rights at other times in history.
Democracy should shoot down unequal rights the same way it won rights for women to vote.  Allowing same-sex couples to marry is as “harmful” as blacks sitting at the same lunch counter as whites. Marriage comes with rights that should be guaranteed.
Opponents of same-sex marriage may argue marriage must be between a man and a woman because the ultimate goal of marriage is procreation, but elderly and infertile heterosexual couples may still legally marry. The ability to procreate should not be a prerequisite for marriage. Same-sex couples can have their own children through adoption. Being lesbian does not mean women lose their ability to give birth.
Because same-sex couples cannot marry, it is difficult for partners to help each other in medical crises. The ill partner’s complications end up burdening their own families when they could be shared with their chosen life partner. Federal laws bar same-sex couples from rights to file joint income tax returns or to inherit a share of a spouse’s estate.
The modern perception of “traditional” monogamous marriages is fairly new. Polygyny, men having more than one wife at a time, has been the norm for most of human history. Churches cannot argue what the Old Testament reveals. King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Traditional marriage has changed and fluctuated over time. Allowing same-sex couples to marry is not an extreme alteration.
Religions have traditionally used marriage to seal men and women in sacred unions for life. When the government began taxing and giving certain rights to married couples, it blurred the fine line between church and state. Religion remains the most profound argument against same-sex marriage.
Many religions acknowledge civil unions, but draw the line at joining together two men or two women, arguing that their bond could never be “sacred.” The government should either grant marriage rights to all couples who wish to tie the knot, or like some European nations, join all couples in a civil union for legal rights. Heterosexual couples could still have their unions made sacred at their religious institutions with a second ceremony.
Marriage is a word owned by the state and it comes with rights that should be guaranteed regardless of religious affiliation. As with racism and sexism, civil change will come slowly. It is important to understand that the issue of same-sex marriage is not about gay rights.
It is about granting equal human rights.