In a letter to New York’s Newsday, Suzanne Mueller of Great Neck counters the claim that marriage only exists for the purposes of procreation.

Not all heterosexual unions result in offspring, whether by choice or by misfortune. Should these, then, not be considered marriages, because they are childless?

Are heterosexual couples who adopt children somehow different from those who bear them naturally? Conversely, many gay and lesbian couples are loving parents to children – either adopted or conceived using the same methods used by heterosexual couples desperate to be parents.

The government needs to recognize all loving and committed relationships equally.