TWIL and I hit the Opinion page, Somerville Journal

Somerville -

To the editor:

For eight years I thought that living with the woman I love was the same as getting married. A long stint of work in the South convinced me that our declarations of unending love were not enough. I wanted to marry. It was easy to ask; she said yes. Only then did I learn that marriage is different. Friends and family and all the institutions we call “society” line up behind you. No one questioned my right to do it. And a river of good wishes and generosity pours our way. That’s just one more reason I support marriage rights for everyone. It’s different than commitment, civil union or any other half-measure, no matter how well intentioned.

The differences of marriage are crucial. No one knows you better than your spouse; you want them to make decisions with you, for you, in life’s most important moments. That’s his or her right. I don’t want it any other way. Same with my assets. Same with the respect and sense of shared experience that married people recognize in one another. You know what I’m talking about. It’s different. Please don’t support a vote about the rights of other citizens, which could turn marriage into a separate, unequal estate just for straight people. We’re not better. We have no grounds to discriminate against those who just want what you want — to marry the one we love and exercise the legal rights that I once took for granted.

John Roberts
Whitfield Road