To the Editor:

Over the past few weeks, I have been upset by events taking place in America with regard to same-sex marriage, from a decision to overturn Proposition 8 in California — thereby making gay marriage legal there — to the passage of such laws allowing gay marriage in Washington and New Jersey. My frustration deepened when I saw last Friday’s column by Scott Stirrett, “Advancing Gay Rights” (The Hoya, A3, Feb. 17, 2012).

I am a committed Republican, but I’m also openly gay. Gay people are being denied no rights, as I see it.

Under the Constitution, which I hope someday has a traditional marriage amendment, a straight person may marry a member of the opposite sex, and so can a gay person. Gay men have the legal right to marry women, just as straight men do. A straight person could not marry someone of the same sex even if he wanted to; similarly, a gay person cannot. As such, this argument that there is discrimination in our laws is nonsensical and ignores the facts. Gay people have the exact same marital rights as straight people.

The gay rights movement is not about bringing about equality, but rather about creating a fundamentally new right that would alter our nation’s moral and societal landscape. To me, the basic building block of our society is the family, and the core essence of the family is a marriage. Marriage means more than that two people live in the same house and sleep in the same bed; there is a deeper commitment that, more often than not, involves raising children. The simple biological fact is that two members of the same sex cannot procreate, no matter how much they love each other. Seeing marriage for what it is, the fabric from which our society is woven, it is clear that members of the same sex cannot marry. The gay rights movement does not speak for me, the voters of California or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Scott Ruesterholz (MSB ’14)