by Mary W. Matthews

Created on: July 16, 2008   Last Updated: January 19, 2009

If two people love one another and wish to spend the rest of their lives together as a partnership, it ought not to matter whether they are the same race or mixed races, the same national heritage or not (e.g., it should be legal for a Scots-American woman to marry a Japanese-American man), the same religion or not, or the same gender.

First: Marriage is a legal contract between two individuals — NOT between two individuals and the government. In a democracy, there are (or should be) no constraints upon unimpaired adults entering into legal contracts with each other. I should have the right to rent a car whenever I want to, even though I am a mere lowly woman. You should have the right to rent a car even though you are an Eskimo or you can't wiggle your ears. Of course there are circumstances in which two people ought not to be allowed to marry — for example, if one of them is 53 and the other is 13, or one is drunk or drugged or under duress. But if you are competent enough to enter into a legal contract to have a porch built onto your house or rent an apartment, and so is the person you wish to marry, the government has no RIGHT to meddle.

Let me repeat — All contracts are agreements between two or more competent persons to do something (rent a car, buy a house, get married, start a business, cater a party). The government is NOT a party to any legal contract except the contracts that IT enters into as a "person." ("Sure, you'll get your veteran's benefits — unless wealthy Republicans want another tax cut, that is. Don't worry, you'll love it at Walter Reed.")

The only interest of the government in any contract is making sure the contract is legal (no contracting with a hitman to take out your boss!) and enforcing whatever laws pertain to the contract. The government has NO RIGHT to say, "We won't let you enter into a contract with Chris to paint your house, (a) because Chris isn't the same race as you are; (b) Chris's grandparents came from Finland and your grandparents came from New Delhi; (c) Chris's religious beliefs are different from Joel Osteen's religious beliefs; (d) Chris is left-handed; (e) Chris is the same gender you are." And the government has NO RIGHT to make any of those objections to the legal contract commonly called marriage.

Yes, 37 state governments have gotten around this "problem" by redefining marriage. It's still a legal contract, and it's still NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS what characteristics pertain to the competent

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