07/10/2003

Early in 2001, Heidi Norton and Gina M. Smith asked the city clerk's office in Northampton for a marriage license.

For nearly a decade, they had shared life's joys and suffered its disappointments. Their relationship is one based on love, not gender. So it seemed only natural that they should be allowed to marry.

The city clerk's office refused to give them a marriage license.

The state Supreme Judicial Court can right that wrong if it rules in favor of a suit filed by the Northampton couple and six other gay couples asking the state to recognize same-sex marriages.

A decision in favor of the seven couples would make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to recognize that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Massachusetts has a long and proud tradition as a state that recognizes basic fairness and equality. The state's highest court should make this another first for Massachusetts.

Gay people are certainly an integral part of the community in the Pioneer Valley and increasingly so throughout all of Massachusetts. And elsewhere, in states far less liberal than Massachusetts, there is greater realization that same-sex couples are no different than heterosexual couples. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a Texas sodomy law is evidence of that.

Some opposition to same-sex marriage is based on religious beliefs, but marriage is a civil contract between two people. No church or religious organization should be allowed to impose its sacred definition of marriage on any couple - gay or heterosexual - if that that couple does not share those views.

The Supreme Judicial Court could decide that the legality of same-sex marriages should be decided by the Legislature. That would be disappointing. The ball is in their court, and the SJC should see that it is a question of constitutional rights.

Same-sex couples have a right to the same legal benefits as heterosexual couples - health care coverage, pension benefits, insurance claims, and life and death decisions.

There are still Americans uncomfortable with the notion of same-sex marriage just as many once were with interracial and interfaith marriages. Times change.

For Heidi Norton and Gina M. Smith, we hope to see you at the altar.