Report on Discrimination Against Singles

Discrimination against singles? Wait a minute! Let’s look at this from another point of view.

The strength and stability of our society comes from our families. As a society we have very good reasons for encouraging people to marry and stay married. Is this necessarily discrimination against singles?

The insurance companies, quoted in your article, have given a good reason for giving rate preference to married people; married people on the average have better driving records. Insurance companies are not going to simply lower the rates for single people, they will raise the rates for married people to compensate for the higher claims made by singles. Is this fair?

Let’s look at the statistics given, unmarried-55%, married-45%. According to the article, these figures were based on the Census Bureau’s definition of “marrying age” as 15 years or older. Just how many 15 year olds do you know who are married? I would imagine that if this figure were adjusted to age 20 (which is still young for marriage considering the trend toward later marriages), the percentage would drop considerably. A more realistic percentage of unmarried is probably less than 50%.

In conclusion, let’s stop and think sensibly about this issue from both the married and the single point of view. Do we have good reasons for giving preference in certain situations to married people? I think we do. Is this necessarily discrimination?

LEILA LANGSTON

Villa Park