Gay marriage is nonissue, clouds real concerns

To the editor:

Peter Kinder's column, "Marriage diktat," struck a chord with me. Why has it become acceptable in American society, supposedly the bastion of freedom of thought, to impose one's personal beliefs on others? The entire point about the Massachusetts court case, which is explicitly blamed on "liberal" thinking, is that humans are created equal. Or so the second-most sacred document in America, the Declaration of Independence, would have us believe.

Despite the rhetoric, gay marriage will not affect a single one of its loudest opponents. Will denying two homosexuals the right to marry cause a dysfunctional heterosexual marriage to mend itself? Will allowing those two partners to marry affect the ability of any other couple to have a healthy and happy marriage? Will you even think about their marriage, other than when listening to someone tell you from a pulpit that it's wrong? This is a nonissue.

The problems in Iraq, Medicare's potential selling out to pharmaceutical companies, the nonfunding of No Child Left Behind, the continuing destruction of the environment by Big Business and the jobless recovery are real issues.

I hold myself to be a moderate and an independent. I am a 1999 graduate of Central High School in Cape Girardeau as well as a 2003 graduate of Luther College. I'm tired of having real issues drowned out by nonissues like gay marriage.

MARK ANDERSON

Madison, Wis.