Essayist and columnist Sam Guzman responds to President Obama’s decision to no longer defend section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act with the claim that marriage is and always has been a divine establishment and the government is interfering in a strictly religious institution, trying to replace the role of God. I disagree with this view and find his claims about what marriage is and about those who are not opposed to this decision to be presumptuous and inaccurate.

The claim that marriage has always been strictly a religious institution is one that I find to be inaccurate because historically it has been a matter of economics and bloodlines. If anything, marriage seems to be more of a legal than a religious matter. It is the ceremony that is religious, not the marriage itself.

 

This matters because it’s an issue of discrimination against certain types of people. Throughout the history of America there has always been inequality between people in some form and I believe that this is another obstacle that needs to be overcome. It is of concern to the gay community, the religious community, and anyone who is interested in equal rights.