The wrong fight
Same-sex marriage should never have been championed for legalization ["A license to marry: It's official," News, Dec. 6]. Why? Because it's the wrong fight. Marriage in and of itself is discriminatory. Why should married persons, whether they are gay or straight, receive more benefits than an individual?

If you really want to even out the playing field, abolish marriage altogether and treat all people equally. Even from its inception marriage has promoted inequality and is an archaic institution at best.

Ironically, it has been the gay community that has proved it's irrelevance by living and creating strong families without it.

—Lisa Harmon, Auburn

Heavy tax burden
It seems that there is no end to the ways our governing leaders can find to spend taxpayers money. The proposed stipend to compensate married same-sex couples who work for the city of Seattle for unequal treatment in their Federal IRS tax rate on medical benefits is just another [“Seattle is weighing a stipend for married same-sex city employees,” NWWednesday, Dec 5.].

The tax money goes to the federal government, yet the city would spend our local tax money to equalize the tax burden. It seems to me we don't have enough money to take care of the responsibilities that the city is already obligated to take care of, like repairing potholes, etc. This unfair tax treatment is something that should be dealt with by the level of government that is imposing and collecting the money.

—Dexter Barnes, Seattle

Stay out of the bedroom
The government cannot pay people for being gay. Mayor Mike McGinn is attempting to spend my tax dollars in an inaccurate and unconstitutional way.

Please ignore sexual orientation. Our Founding Fathers stayed out of other people’s bedrooms. Now we seem over-fascinated with other people’s bedrooms. If this credit is established, then the government is encouraging what is outside the norm.
And in another story today, as a judge in California allows a ban on sexual-orientation “conversion therapy” [“Gay ‘conversion therapy’ programs facing first court tests,” News, Nov. 27], counselors are to be policed? Again, poor, little gay people.

No, ignore the bedrooms and let's just all live as we choose. I'm not gay and I don't care whether you are or not.

—Pam Schmoll, Woodinville