In response to the Sept. 21 letter “Same-sex marriage isn’t a right,” I would like to venture a guess that the writer is from a small town in Iowa, consisting of 130 narrow-minded people. Does this sound about right?

How can you criticize a population when they may have no control over the feeling and acts that you so openly criticize?

Would you criticize a deaf person for simply having a difference that he could not control? One of the beauties of society is that everyone is different.

Research suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle, possibly even before birth. It is found in about 10 percent of the population, a figure that is surprisingly constant across cultures, irrespective of the different moral values and standards of a particular culture.

If you are going to deny gay people the right to marriage, to be fair you should also ban marriages between deaf people, mute people and the physically handicapped.

As far as homosexuality being biblically wrong — and therefore being wrong in general — this nation was founded on diversity, freedom of speech and freedom of thought. This freedom gives us the ability to decide for ourselves what we believe is morally wrong and right.

Yes, the Bible is considered a good moral guide by many; however, there are also many who derive their moral standards from elsewhere, whether it be their parents or simply their own beliefs.

Homosexuals are in no way negatively affecting society or putting society at risk. Therefore, society should not negatively affect homosexuals by not allowing them to partake in one of life’s great joys: marriage.

Arthur Templin

Civil Engineering