It is saddening to read the cruelty exhibited by Peggy Smedberg (June 12) who finds it laughable to see human beings suffer because of discrimination.

When we realize that children of same-gender parents are without many legal protections; when we realize that people who have cared for dying partners do not have the legal rights, medical coverage or Social Security of married partners; when we understand that over a thousand benefits of marriage are not given to domestic partners; when parents look at their gay children and realize they are second-class citizens in the eyes of the law, then open-minded people can understand what the issues really are.

Smedberg is not correct that partnership laws “give gays the rights of marriage.” They do not.

The writer offers the dictionary definition of “marriage,” with synonyms. What black person was satisfied with synonyms for marriage until 1967? Were blacks also “politically naive” in demanding equality? People like Smedberg may find the misery of others “a riot” and laughable, but more Americans take discrimination more seriously. If she checks her dictionary again, she may find the definition for bigot is: “A person obstinately devoted to his or her opinion or prejudices.”

Perhaps, as she says, her brain is not “wired to accept the term gay marriage,'” but faulty wiring can be corrected. Human compassion, decency and legislation can bring America closer to its dream of justice for all.

Lew Alessio, Greene