On Thursday, February 13, 2004, a federal judge declared unconstitutional the Commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriage, making it the most recent state in the union to embrace and take a clear stand for marriage equality.

So I congratulate the Commonwealth for this important step, and I hope more states can follow suit.

As I respect everyone’s view on this matter, I do strongly believe that marriage is between two people who love each other, not between a man and a woman as the religious folks want to make believe.

Gender has nothing to do with marriage, which is simply a matter of the heart.

Gender matters only when procreation comes into play as, biologically speaking, there need to be a male and a female for reproduction to take place. But when it comes to marriage, it is more about love than gender.

People get married because of love, not because they want babies. So they don’t get married for procreation purposes. In fact, not all married heterosexual couples want kids. So the main purpose of marriage is to make both individuals feel loved, not to procreate.

I am a proponent of same-sex marriage just like I am a proponent of interracial marriage. I don’t think people should be going around telling other people who to marry. People should marry the person they love regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, creed and religious beliefs. That’s what I believe.