Marriage is an individual’s right and decision.

Each state has the governmental power to acknowledge a civil union between two people.

An amendment proposed by the Traditional Values Coalition would change that, limiting the legal definition of marriage. The proposed amendment says “marriage in the United States shall consist only of a union of a man and a woman.”

Therefore, this amendment is a backwards way to ban same-sex marriages.

The organizers of the amendment movement have admitted the efforts to legalize gay marriage is what prompted the need for this constitutional definition.

They say for traditional and religious reasons, marriage only counts if it’s between two people of the opposite sex.

But traditionally it was wrong to marry a person of a different race or religion. Our society and government has realized that love doesn’t have barriers of race and religion.

Tradition isn’t an excuse to discriminate against a group of people.

The government should have laws that protect all types of marriage.

This amendment also violates state rights to decide what a marriage is. Right now one state recognizes same-sex marriages.

But problems arise when the couples decide to move. Does every state have to recognize a same-sex marriage that took place in a different state? So far the law says no.

In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law which says that no state can be required to recognize a gay marriage performed in another state where such unions might be legal.

So there is some confusion about marriage between different states. Some action does need to be taken to solve this problem.

But this marriage amendment is a step in the wrong direction.

Instead of proposing an amendment defining that marriage can only happen between a man and woman, why not propose a same-sex marriage with equal rights and benefits?

Same-sex unions should be given equal legal recognition given to traditional married couples.

Without the right to marry, same-sex couples do not have the right to have family health coverage, medical and bereavement leaves, child custody, tax benefits and pension plans.

One of the defenders of the amendment said the founding fathers never anticipated gay rights when they created the Bill of Rights.

But we think Thomas Jefferson wrote about gay rights when individual rights were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

An amendment adding same-sex marriages as a right in the Constitution is a step in the right direction.

Let’s stop judging gays by their sexuality and let them live as equals.

editorialboard: Michelle Kann, Tim Paluch, Jocelyn Marcus, Zach Calef, Ruth Hitchcock, Cavan Reagan