To the editor:

Let me make myself perfectly clear from the outset: I do not approve of the concept of same-sex marriage. I am, of course, in a distinct minority here, since just about everyone seems to think that this is a perfectly peachy-keen arrangement, it appears to be gaining universal acceptance — legal and otherwise — and I’m about the only one who doesn’t get it. Even the military establishment has caved in on the subject, recognizing these relationships and allowing them dependent benefits.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the LGBT community. They are, of course, going to get together with whomever they want and do whatever they want, but please don’t label it as “marriage”! Marriage is now, and always has been, a covenant between a man and a woman.

There are, as I see it, three basic areas of disagreement on this subject:

• Religious (“The Bible says …”)

• Procreation (“Can’t make no babies that way!”)

Or, for me:

• Simply the erosion of traditional, fundamental values in this country, the fundamental value here being marriage between man and woman.

A cartoon appeared on the Lawrence Journal-World’s opinion page the other day showing a car with certain of the same sentiments I present on a bumper sticker on my car but dragging a trail of tin cans and a trash can labeled “bigotry.” I fail to see that expressing my opinion on any controversial issue necessarily makes me a bigot, and I resent the implication.