Today’s L.A. Times letter to the editor, because our voices matter:

Re “Obama takes a stand for gay marriage,” May 10

I was 13 when I first considered the same-sex marriage “dilemma.” I was a Catholic school student, yet even then I could not find the moral (let alone legal) reason by which two consenting adults should not be allowed to marry. Each religion can define the issue’s spiritual validity. However, morally and legally, marriage is a common right.

Three years ago, I married a wonderful Mexican American man. As recently as 1967, laws that prohibited interracial marriages such as ours were still constitutionally legal in the United States. I married an immigrant, but as a white, law-abiding, Catholic Democrat, I still could have married an African American, a Jew or a Muslim or a Buddhist, an inmate, or a Republican. We recognize such rights to marriage, yet not those based on sexual orientation or identity.

We have finally given permission for gay troops to serve openly in the military, but when they return home, we deny them the right to devote themselves to matrimony. One can kill and be gay, but to love is unacceptable. I am ashamed of my compatriots for holding dear such biases against our own.

So to you, President Obama, of course I thank you for standing up for the rights of the minority. It should have happened sooner.

Valerie Palacios

Long Beach