To the Editor:

My name is Niko Martin, and I am a seventh-grade student at Hollis Brookline Middle School in Hollis. I am writing to you because I believe same-sex marriage should be legal in all parts of America.

If I couldn’t marry the person I loved, I would feel like an outcast unwanted by society. Everyone deserves the same rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are no different than anyone else. Everyone can help stop this attack on human rights. Freedom of religion gives people the right to worship what they want not to impose it on others; same sex marriage should be legal.

Approximately 37 percent of LGBT Americans have a child, which equals six million American children. Having two legal parents makes children eligible for government benefits.

Thomas McInerny stated, “Stable relationships with caring adults are important for children, and so are financial security, social support and access to health care,” as quoted in Sharon Jayson’s USA article titled “How will same-sex marriage rulings affect children?.”

After DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) was passed in 1996, 25 states banned same-sex marriage, according to procon.org. If children are this country’s future, we need to fight for our children, and our future. Justice Anthony Kennedy even believes that DOMA humiliates children raised by same-sex couples, by making them feel as though their parents are not equal and therefore that they are not either. When DOMA was active, children could not get benefits when a non-biological parent died, according to Jayson’s article. Currently, there are 17 states where same-sex marriage is legal, according to procon.org.

What is the point of not allowing people to be with the people they love? They are not hurting society by being happy. I encourage you to look into the facts more; it could change the lives of millions.

Thank you for listening with an open mind.

NIKO MARTIN

Brookline