Sexual union between a man and woman is the only reason the human race has survived. If the supreme intelligence that created us had made one sex, or if marriage had only been between members of the same sex, none of us would be here now.
Men and women are not the same. Each has a unique role in the creation of life. Traditional and same- sex marriage are not the same either. The former is the framework in which human life has continued to survive for thousands of years. It is the only setting in which life can be created and preserved according to the plan of the author of life.
For these reasons, same-sex unions simply should not be called marriages. A different name, or at least a qualifying word (for example, civil marriage) should be used instead.
Mary F. Kollner, Baltimore