I am compelled to respond to Rev. Mark Tanner’s recent letter to the Ottumwa Courier, encouraging the public to turn to prayer to prevent further erosion of America’s moral fabric and to preserve what remains of the institution of “traditional” marriage.

May I remind Rev. Tanner that gay and lesbian Iowans have long been able to seek several reconciling religious bodies throughout the state that have been willing to perform a marriage ceremony for them. Although, until recently, these marriages have not been legally recognized, the people who performed the ceremonies and those who were married, have felt that they, too, had been married in “the eyes of God.”

The recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling requires that such marriages now being performed in Iowa will be subject to the same civil recognition as the “traditional marriages” that Rev. Tanner wants to preserve. The ruling grants the civil rights for Iowans to marry the person they choose.

Extolling Iowans to pray to preserve what he deems as traditional marriage, to denounce the “hate crimes” of liberal politics and to save all children “stuck” with same-sex parents distorts God’s plan with a narrow minded, apparently bigoted, interpretation.

I pray that someday God grants Rev. Tanner enough clarity to accept that civil rights for all is not a threat to America’s moral fabric, to him, to his marriage or to his family, but rather God’s desire for all people.

Jim Gerrans

Ottumwa