Poe’s law is defined as the inability to accurately judge sincerity from parody. Indeed, when I began reading Tuesday’s article titled “Same-sex unions not equal,” I was at first expecting satire. Instead, I found a puzzling mix of tired arguments in defense of denying civil rights while cowardly using children for cover. Like Robin Williams I found myself exclaiming: “What year is it?”

Against this column, I could cite facts after facts demonstrating where exactly the columnist for The Crimson White has erred. I could argue and correctly point out that “marriage” has had as many meanings throughout history as there are cultures that marry. I could argue that marriage has been used in the past only for a patriarch’s property rights (where the sometimes multiple wives and children were often considered property). I could cite studies explaining that the arbitrary definition of what exactly constitutes a “mother” and “father” are, at best, social constructs.

I could even show studies which demonstrate that children with two parents, regardless of gender, are more well-adjusted than those children with only one parent. But why bother? The arguments against marriage equality have already been culturally eviscerated for the last 15 years in the arena of public discourse. Indeed there exists, in abundance, a more comprehensive refutation of every point made in “Same-sex unions not equal” than I can hope to fit within this letter.

As a biologist, I feel personally slighted when people use “nature” as a defense for bigotry, conveniently forgetting that same-sex partnerships are found within nature. But, like a panda in the wild, we are seeing the decline of “Same-sex unions not equal.” So read the column, and remember it, because in another 15 years, they will hopefully be extinct.

Bryan Martinez is a graduate student studying biology.