The modern fight for equality

In historic news from the United States, legislators in New York have granted the same-sex marriage rights. While not the first state to do so, it is certainly one of the more ‘important’ based on population and influence. As the editors at Bloomberg View observe, the battle to recognise gay marriage is comparable to the civil rights movement that gave equal recognition to African Americans.

For what it’s worth, my preference is for there to be no legislation on marriage — let it be solely a religious institution, and allow religious organisations to determine the conditions under which they will marry people. But so long as the state chooses to provide special legal rights to couples, then I see no reason why preference should be given to those in heterosexual relationships over those in homosexual relationships. Anything else is blatantly discriminatory. Whether such recognition (for both gay and straight partners) is called ‘marriage’ or not is of little consequence in my judgment, just so long as it is equal.