Second look: Gay marriage, ObamaCare's employer mandate

Some letters to the editor and comments from Facebook on the week's top talkers:

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL

A reader compared same-sex marriage to polygamy and cited the nebulous word "morality" as a reason for opposing both ("High court praised, panned for taking on gay marriage," Your Say, Tuesday).

However, our nation has a long tradition of valuing the equality of its citizens. Polygamy was developed in a patriarchal culture where women were seen as the property of men. It has no place in a society where men and women are equal under the law, and neither does a ban on same-sex marriage. To say a man can marry a woman but a woman cannot is to treat men and women as separate classes of citizens and is a form of discrimination.

When same-sex marriage is legalized, America will finally be on the path to true gender equality.

Wolfgang Beylschmidt; Fulton, Mo.

DIVORCE HEALTH PLANS, WORK

Health insurance should not be employer-financed ("Should employers be forced to provide health care?", Your Say, Wednesday). And in cases where it is, then it should be fully taxable as income. Many people would be shocked what it costs.

Bob Rejefski

MLB DESERVES CHEATERS

Barry Bonds and players whose steroid use came out later should be allowed to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame as well as keep any records they achieved. Same for Lance Armstrong and his Tour de France truimphs. Don't think that I condone their actions. In fact, I'm repelled by them.

Major League Baseball should have sanctioned these players early on and been on top of the mysterious bodily changes. The baseball brass probably knew what was going on all along but let it go to make a buck. And that's the way it's always been. Baseball is a business first, and removing its biggest stars would have been lethal for the box office.

Charles Birimisa; Watsonville, Calif.