Anti-gay views stem from ignorance and fear

The CEO of Chick-fil-A did more than express a view denigrating gay relationships ("Fast food activism," Aug. 1). The company spends millions to attack the very lives and security of people in same-sex relationships.

As a result of anti-gay legislation like the Defense of Marriage Act, insurance companies do not offer private annuity contracts to same-sex couples who want to provide for their retirement. Social Security benefits do not extend to survivor relationships in same-sex unions. Gay couples can't file joint tax returns, and there isn't an unlimited marital deduction on the death of a spouse. The list goes on.

The white Southerners who refused to serve black people in their restaurants or educate black children in their schools deeply believed they were correct. They had been raised by generations of people teaching them black people were inferior and possibly dangerous. Only the dedicated resistance of good people and the passage of time raised the curtain on their ignorance.

People who want to denigrate the loving, committed relationships of gay people in order to elevate their own relationships — and who keep gay families from securing the financial security available to their own families — deeply believe they are correct. They even cite scripture to justify their bias. One can only hope that in time the curtain will also be lifted on their ignorance.

Tony Hamer