I read with interest Sudha Rajan's opinion piece regarding same-sex couple's right to marry (\Denying right to marry for same-sex couples wrong,"" Feb. 3, 2003). Rajan's reasoning that, ""there is a line between living your life by your religious code and forcing that code on others"" is certainly sound. Yet for gay and lesbian people, the moral argument simply has no basis in fact.
Implicit to morality is choice. Where and when does this ""choice"" between heterosexuality and homosexuality occur? Can straight people remember some time in their lives when they said to themselves, ""OK, I am equally attracted to both the opposite sex and the same sex, but I am going to pursue relationships with the opposite sex because, well, I'm a moral person."" Straight people never make such a ""choice,"" and neither do gay or lesbian people. Without an opposing option, what is this moral ""choice"" that gay and lesbian people are failing to make? A loveless marriage?
In my opinion, the burden of moral choice falls on the heterosexual majority, which, for the most part, ignores the pleas of a segment of society that asks simply to be understood and appreciated for what they are. Regarding the right for gays and lesbians to marry, I choose to react with compassion.
