Letters: Gay rights as civil rights

Re “Beware a gay rights backlash,” Opinion, May 15

Eric J. Segall says lawyers working to overturn Proposition 8 via the courts should be trying to persuade Congress instead to end marriage discrimination.

He cites the civil rights movement as the way to get things done. But when Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964, it had a Supreme Court decision behind it condemning segregation as a violation of the 14th Amendment.

Segall points out that it took only six years for public opinion to sharply change after the court’s historic decision in 1958. Public opinion on marriage is changing even more rapidly now, but opinions should never determine when the time is right to do the right thing.

Equal marriage rights will eventually be supported by all three branches of government; we can thank the executive for being the first.

Kathy Harty

Arcadia

Segall compares giving rights to gay couples to the school integration fight of the 20th century. I think this is absurd.

Parents of small children balked at sending their children on school buses to distant schools, often in bad neighborhoods. Giving marriage rights to gay couples has no impact on anybody else.

Julia Dunphy

Harbor City

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