To the editor:

I opened my newspaper last Friday morning and saw to my horror that the Kansas Senate had approved an amendment to the state constitution that would restrict homosexual couples from marrying or even receiving any of the rights that “straight” couples do. I sat dumbfounded as I wondered how this could happen.

Then I read reactions by some of the senators. Apparently allowing gays and lesbians to marry, somehow, would cheapen the institution of marriage. I am not at all in favor of doing that, but I wonder how valuable this institution is when more than half of all marriages end in divorce.

I read that homosexuality is unnatural, that it is evil, and that it is a choice. I remember my Western Civilization class … yes, St. Thomas Aquinas did say that homosexuality was evil, but this was also the man that said masturbation is worse than incest. As to it being unnatural, I wonder if it is only those who have never known a person who is gay or lesbian who feel this.

So then I wonder, is this amendment based in reality, or have I awaken in bizarro world? There is a fine line between regulating what is moral, and stripping away what makes America such a wonderful place to call home. Indeed there should be an amendment to the state constitution, but it should be one that allows people freedom, not one that takes it away. A government that takes basic liberties away will never succeed.

Kelvin Adkins-Heljeson,

Lawrence