We used to oppose interracial marriage, too

To the editor:

Regarding the issue of same-sex marriage, fundamental rights are just that. They are not “gifts” bestowed upon others at the ballot box. One of these fundamental rights is the right to marry the person you love.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 that state laws forbidding interracial marriages were unconstitutional, 16 states had such laws in place and 73 percent of the American people opposed such unions. Of course, that was the right decision by the court. Should Southern states have been allowed to continue the egregious segregation policies of the 1960s based on a popular vote? How do you think that would have worked out?

The U.S. Supreme Court exists for exactly the kind of issues with which it’s dealing now. People are who they are, and people love who they love.

ROB POWERS

LAS VEGAS

Religious doctrine

To the editor: The only reason we’re even having this conversation about same-sex marriage is because the fundamentalists and Tea Party Republicans are trying to force their beliefs and way of thinking on the rest of us.

Marriage is the decision of the individuals involved, be they man and woman, man and man or woman and woman. My preference is a man-woman relationship, but not one single gay marriage has affected my life in any way. Has gay marriage affected your life in any way? The only people who seem to be affected by gay marriage are those whose minds are wedded to the past and who are holding onto a rigid religious doctrine.

Marriage is about love, and love will win out.

RON LOWE

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.

Marriage and taxes

To the editor:

I’d like to hear more about this marriage deduction that John Chontos refers to in his Wednesday letter (“Gay marriage deduction?”), in which he suggests that same-sex marriage recognition will result in lower taxes for gays and therefore higher taxes for traditional couples.

Please, Mr. Chontos, refer me to the statute that permits an IRS deduction for married couples, as in all of my 35 years of paying federal taxes on a joint return I’ve never filled in a line that reduced the amount of tax I paid because I’m married. I’d like to file amended returns for all those years that I didn’t claim this deduction.

We all know about the marriage penalty in taxation, but marriage deduction? I doubt very much that is the ulterior motive behind the movement for equal rights in issues of marriage.

MOLLY LAIRAMORE

LAS VEGAS