Committed couples help build stability

From: Patrick French

Columbus

Received: July 16

It is true that marriage is becoming less dominant in this country. That much we can agree on.

Over 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. An increasing number of young Americans are being raised in single-parent households. The nuclear family, which has been the cornerstone of our society for so long, is indeed dissolving. But fellow readers, we are doing a disservice to this debate by asserting that this dissolution is the result of gay marriage.

In all seriousness, gay marriage advocacy is not an attack on our traditional values. It is an endorsement of those values. For gay couples in committed relationships, marriage is a socially sanctioned way to enter into a binding covenant. While these relationships differ from heterosexual marriage in a few obvious ways, they may not be as different as some among us would like us to believe.

In order for our society to prosper, we must find a way to create stability in a world that is increasingly unstable. That stability will not be reached by excluding gay couples from the institution of marriage, any more than it was reached by maintaining school segregation. Equality among people is an American value, and one that we would do well to remember.

Before the temptation to resort to sound-bite-worthy denunciations (such as “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”) gets too strong, remember: Gay couples are people who are in love, much like you and your opposite-sex wife or husband. Ask yourself: What is the defining characteristic of your marriage? Is it your ability to have biological children, or is it your ability to raise those children in a loving home?

Is it more important that you are of opposite gender, or that you love each other?

God may have created Adam and Eve, as opposed to Adam and Steve. But the fact remains that some of God’s children are gay. And we would do well to treat them with fairness, respect and dignity.

As Jesus said in Matthew, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

Time to rethink People Trail connections

From: Jim Denton

Columbus

Received: July 17

I am highly encouraged by the campaign to expand the People Trails network but dismayed at the stated priorities.

There are two connections along the trail that, if completed, would be truly transformative.

I am referring to the stretch between Haw Creek at the Cummins Tech Center to Mill Race Park and also a connection from Lincoln Center under 25th Street to the trail at the corner of National Road.

I am an older, senior-type person and wouldn’t really consider riding several miles along a high-traffic route, even a well-marked route with lines and signs, to reach the trail for a leisure ride.

For example, I would never attempt to ride the “well marked” bike route along 17th Street in front of the hospital.

Much better to put the bike in the back of the truck and drive to the trail.

So I am suggesting save the money that would be spent painting lines on county roads and city sidewalks and put it toward making trail connections that really matter.

 

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