A Wednesday letter to the editor asked how legalizing homosexual marriage would be a detriment to heterosexual marriage. The answer is it won’t, but, of course, that is not the point. The point is the far-reaching ramifications of legalizing homosexual marriages in this state.
It should be obvious that there is a hatred and intolerance toward people who believe in traditional marriage. In New Hampshire last month an inn was fined $30,000 because they did not wish to hold a reception for a homosexual couple. In Arizona last year, a photo business was fined $7,000 for not wanting to photograph a gay wedding due to their personal beliefs. And recently, when the owner of the Chick-Fil-A restaurants said that he supported traditional marriage, the mayors of Chicago and Boston implied that they would not grant any more business licenses to his chain. And in our state, supporters of legalizing homosexual marriages went to court to have the right to see who signed the referendum to keep traditional marriage. These are tactics to create fear, to intimidate, and to suppress freedom of speech.
If homosexual marriages are legalized in our state, soon activists will go to court to stop the Boy Scouts, or any church that labels homosexuality as a sin, from using any public facility. There will be no legal support for anyone with any differing opinion about homosexuality when it comes to business. On the East Coast, Catholic adoption agencies have closed, because of the mandate that they would have to allow adoptions to homosexual couples. In all these cases, there were other options, but a total intolerance toward any disagreement toward homosexuality is the climate we live in.
In November, there is a lot more riding on your vote on Referendum 74 than just legalizing homosexual marriage.
Tom Tangen
Edmonds
