This is a courageous decision

Please allow me to express my sincere pleasure and appreciation for Reagan Dunn’s coming out in support of gay marriage [“Dunn riles GOP circles by backing gay marriage,” NWFriday, Jan. 20].

It was a courageous and forward-thinking decision. As our future governor Rob McKenna is fond of saying, the Republican Party must learn the difference between private convictions and public policies. It is encouraging to see an up-and-coming star in the Republican Party exhibit that understanding.

We have always been able to count on the GOP to lead us constructively in fiscal issues. Perhaps this move toward constructive leadership in social issues will become a pattern.

— David Rogers Bellevue

Lawmakers need to think about their position

This gay-marriage initiative that lawmakers want to cram down our throats is starting to get annoying. Don’t you understand the word “no.” This law has been voted down in the state of Washington several times in many forms.

To protect the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, do not turn it into a free-for-all. Please stop trying to protect us by doing what we asked you not to do. We did not elect any government official to do what we didn’t want done.

Maybe they did not tell you when you were running for office, but you are supposed to represent the people of Washington state. Not to fulfill your own agenda.

In short, do what the people of Washington have said repeatedly. It’s not your decision to make.

— Al Ackley, Spokane

The definition of marriage has changed

It is time to support marriage equality in Washington state. Equality eliminates discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is an issue that is important to the future of our state and nation and it is the last great civil rights battle of our time.

The definitions of marriage, as well as the legal protections, have changed dramatically over the past 150 years.

Until around the 1850s, a woman had virtually no legal protections within marriage. Any property she possessed before the marriage became the property of the husband. She could not acquire property during the marriage and she had absolutely no rights regarding her children. A married woman was subjugated and discriminated against by all of the existing power structures.

Thankfully this model of marriage for women has been updated, including the option of divorce, which was generally not a possibility even in the most abusive situations.

Interracial marriage was illegal in some states up until 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. Interracial marriage was made legal on a state-by-state basis, until the Supreme Court made its federal ruling in 1967.

Following that trend, many states currently allow gay marriage. The most current state, New York, passed its Marriage Equality Act in 2011. Gays should have the legitimacy and legal protections that marriage provides. Loving, committed couples should not be denied the most basic right in our society.

Please support marriage equality in the state of Washington.

— Marcie Decker, Port Orchard

The right to dream

As conversation grows regarding marriage equality in Washington state, please consider one population. Many little gay boys and little lesbian girls spend their childhood struggling to accept themselves.

They hide who they are and who they love. They grow up in a world without loving gay and lesbian married couples as role models.

These kids don’t even dream about getting married, because for their love, marriage doesn’t exist. This childhood can be long and lonely, sometimes ending before its time.

Imagine a world where all children, both gay and straight, have a childhood filled with dreams of growing up, falling in love and getting married.

What a wonderful place. Please support marriage equality in Washington state. Every child has the right to dream.

— Ken Timmons, Seattle