I support Referendum 74’s expansion of the civil definition of marriage to include same gender couples. Marriage is a social good. It promotes stable and durable family relationships. Married couples have increased happiness, life expectancy and economic security. Children also benefit from living in households with secure and stable relationships. Two-thirds of children are now born to unmarried households. We need more marriage, not less. But there is a more fundamental reason to support this referendum. Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Gays and lesbians have suffered from explicit discrimination for too long. As a Christian, I believe that all that the Divine creates is good, and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Now is a time that we, as a society, can put an end to one aspect of oppression, and promote justice and positive social relationships.

Bennet McConaughy