Dear Sir,

I have followed both sides of the debate and it seems to me that the word “marriage” is at the heart of everything.

Deal with this one word and you may have resolution from the majority.

You’ll never convince the extremists on either side. The Oxford Dictionary defines marriage as a union between two people of the opposite gender.

Persons of the same gender wishing to enter a formal, long-term relationship with legal boundaries have been excluded from this definition since time immemorial. Therefore, find a suitable word that can be brought into accepted use, and given the same rights and connotations for the same-sex couple, with all the power of the law, and you may have an answer.

Thus, where a couple of differing gender may marry, with all that implies, then the same-sex couple can be enjoined with all the same rights. “Enjoined” is just my suggested choice of words. There are probably better options. It really only needs our elected representatives to bring it all into law. Two words, serving the same needs of two differing couples.

Just a thought.

Regards,

JEFF PAYNE