There are people who believe that a family can only be a heterosexual partnership reflecting the blueprint design of a mother, father and children; and that this is the combination that nurtures a healthy development of children who will become well-adjusted, productive citizens.

I’m not sure that’s totally true.

Take for example: Adolf Hitler had heterosexual parents; Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame had a mother, father and siblings; Osama bin Laden had both parents and multiple siblings. Those people were products of the traditional family. How productive were they?

As I see it, a family is a unit. A unit is a combination. The basic ingredient that makes it all work is love. Love breeds acceptance. Whether the union is between two men, two women, or a man and a woman — what does it matter? All those combinations, providing they are based on love, formulate equal opportunities for their offspring to become productive citizens of the universe.

The children of those partners will be just fine, but we must allow them to be.

In the November election, voters have the opportunity to approve same-sex marriage in Maine. The law was signed in May of this year, scheduled to take effect on Sept. 11, but didn’t because the Catholic Church gracefully protested.

Not fair.

I ask voters to support same-sex marriage, and simply live and let live.

Yvette Rousseau, Lewiston