Same-sex marriage not an equal-rights issue

The Jan. 27 letter, “Why can't everyone have equal rights?” (by Rhonda Case) raises a number of contentious points, among them that Republicans seek to deny equal marriage rights to same-sex couples and claim that same-sex unions somehow undermine natural heterosexual marriage. These oft-repeated claims are fallacious and spurious.

First, nobody is attempting to deny rights to gays that they reserve for themselves. Marrying a person of the same sex is not an “equal” right but one manifestly UN-equal. It is a substitutionary counterpart, invented by judicial fiat and thrust upon us merely to indulge the impulses of a group of people disinclined to accept natural societal norms.

Second, the perceived threat posed by adoption of this exotic alternative is not to traditional marriage but to society itself. Conventional marriage is the structural foundation on which humans' biological, evolutionary and societal success rests.

The all-too-frequent comparison to gender and racial equality is a false analogy. Such would imply depriving gays the right to marry anyone, period - simply for being gay.

Using this doctored interpretation of the Iowa Constitution's equal protection clause, the Iowa Supreme Court mired itself in a tangle of legalistic sophistry, slapped societal concerns aside, and concocted an absurd outcome.

Republicans simply want to restore the public's rightful place in the decision.

Dale Fitzgibbons

Cedar Rapids