Dear Tell All: Serial Monogamist asks why the gay rights movement is focused on marriage equality ("Marriage Is Bogus," 7/3/2014). My answer would be fairly simple yet powerful: to gain legal equality for homosexual relationships.
There are a host of benefits marriage enables people to get, many focused on protecting the shared life two people have built or are building. There are property and inheritance rights and medical decision-making rights that can be very helpful when life's crises arise. And there are also protections and options available for when relationships break apart.
My own sister-in-law is involved in a nasty breakup with her partner, and there is very little legal recourse for stopping her partner's manipulative antics, even though there are children and property involved. Had they been able to legally marry and done so, she would have the state's divorce laws and processes to protect her.
That story may not explain why everyone in favor of gay marriage supports its universal legal recognition, but for me, it's enough. My sister-in-law, as a homosexual, deserves the same legal protections I have as a heterosexual.
A Straight Answer to Gay Marriage
Dear Tell All: I'm disappointed by your answer to "Faithful Correspondent," the nice lady who likes old-fashioned letter-writing ("Send/Receive," 7/10/2014). Faithful Correspondent said she feels out of place in the age of email and Facebook, where long, thoughtful responses have no place. Rather than sympathize, you blamed the victim, imagining that her friends groan "when they see another 1,000-word screed from you among their messages."
Why discourage someone who believes in the classic virtues of courtesy and graciousness? Such an approach to letter-writing might be out of fashion, but I'll take it over "LOL" any day.
Handwriter
Dear Tell All: Email was definitely invented for instant gratification and I find it sad that communication between human beings has been reduced to acronyms and childish emoticons.
Quality Not Quantity
Do you have a question about life or love in Madison? Write Tell All, 101 King St., Madison, WI 53703. Or email tellall@isthmus.com.
