The following are ten facts about same sex marriage,
gay rights, and common misinformation.
Fact 1 - Homosexual marriage degrades a time-
honored institution
Homosexual marriage is an empty pretense that lacks
the fundamental sexual complementariness of male
and female. And like all counterfeits, it cheapens and
degrades the real thing. The destructive effects may
not be immediately apparent, but the cumulative
damage is inescapable. The eminent Harvard
sociologist, Pitirim Sorokin, analyzed cultures
spanning several thousand years on several
continents, and found that virtually no society has
ceased to regulate sexuality within marriage as
traditionally defined, and survived.
Fact 2 - Homosexual marriage would radically
redefine marriage to include virtually any sexual
behavior
Once marriage is no longer confined to a man and a
woman, and the sole criterion becomes the presence of
"love" and "mutual commitment," it is impossible to
exclude virtually any "relationship" between two or
more partners of either sex. To those who scoff at
concerns that gay marriage could lead to the
acceptance of other harmful and widely-rejected sexual
behaviors, it should be pointed out that until very
recent times the very suggestion that two women or
two men could "marry" would have been greeted with
scorn. The movement to redefine marriage has already
found full expression in what is variously called
"polyfidelity" or "polyamory," which seeks to replace
traditional marriage with a bewildering array of sexual
combinations among various groups of individuals.
Fact 3 - Homosexual marriage is not a civil rights
issue
Defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman
would not deny homosexuals the basic civil rights
accorded other citizens. Nowhere in the Bill of Rights
or in any legislation proceeding from it are
homosexuals excluded from the rights enjoyed by all
citizens--including the right to marry. However, no
citizen has the unrestricted right to marry whomever
they want. A person cannot marry a child, a close
blood relative, two or more spouses, or the husband or
wife of another person. Such restrictions are based
upon the accumulated wisdom not only of Western
civilization but also of societies and cultures around
the world for millennia.
Fact 4 - Upholding traditional marriage is not
"discrimination"
Discrimination occurs when someone is unjustly
denied some benefit or opportunity. But it must first
be demonstrated that such persons deserve to be
treated equally regarding the point in question. For
example, FAA and airline regulations rightly
discriminate regarding who is allowed into the cockpit
of an airplane. Those who are not trained pilots have
no rightful claim to "discrimination" because they are
denied the opportunity to fly an airplane. Similarly,
the accumulated wisdom of thousands of years of
human history, as expressed in virtually all cultures,
has defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Homosexual activists conveniently avoid the question
of whether homosexual relationships merit being
granted equality with marriage. Although not strictly
comparable, radically altering the definition of
marriage can also pose dangers to society in much the
same way as permitting unqualified individuals to fly
airplanes.
Fact 5 - Any comparison with interracial marriage
is phony
Laws against interracial marriage sought to add a
requirement to marriage that is not intrinsic to the
institution of marriage. Allowing a black man to marry
a white woman, or vice versa, does not change the
fundamental definition of marriage, which requires a
man and a woman. Homosexual marriage, on the
other hand, is the radical attempt to discard this most
basic requirement for marriage. Those who claim that
some churches held interracial marriage to be morally
wrong fail to point out that such "moral objection" to
interracial marriage stemmed from cultural factors
rather than historic and widely-accepted biblical
teaching.
Fact 6 - Homosexual marriage would subject
children to unstable home environments
Many homosexuals and their sex partners may
sincerely believe they can be good parents. But
children are not guinea pigs for grand social
experiments in redefining marriage, and should not be
placed in settings that are unsuitable for raising
children.
Transient relationships: While a high percentage of
married couples remain married for up to 20 years or
longer, with many remaining wedded for life, the vast
majority of homosexual relationships are short-lived
and transitory. This has nothing to do with alleged
"societal oppression." A study in the Netherlands , a
gay-tolerant nation that has legalized homosexual
marriage, found the average duration of a homosexual
relationship to be one and a half years.
Serial promiscuity: Studies indicate that while three-
quarters or more of married couples remain faithful to
each other, homosexual couples typically engage in a
shocking degree of promiscuity. The same Dutch study
found that "committed" homosexual couples have an
average of eight sexual partners (outside of the
relationship) per year. Children should not be placed
in unstable households with revolving bedroom doors.
Fact 7 - Homosexual activists have a political
agenda: to radically redefine the institution of
marriage
Homosexual activists admit that their goal is not
simply to make the definition of marriage more
"inclusive," but to remake it in their own hedonistic
image. Paula Ettelbrick, former legal director of the
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, states,
"Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex,
sexuality, and family, and ... transforming the very
fabric of society." Homosexual writer and activist
Michelangelo Signorile rejects monogamy in favor of
"a relationship in which the partners have sex on the
outside often ... and discuss their outside sex with
each other, or share sex partners."
Fact 8 - If victorious, the homosexual agenda will
lead to the persecution of those who object on
moral or religious grounds
If homosexual marriage becomes the law of the land,
then children in public schools will be taught that
homosexuality is a normative lifestyle, and that gay
households are just another "variant" style of family.
Those who object may find themselves on the wrong
side of the law. Unbelievable? This Orwellian
situation has occurred in Massachusetts , which
legalized homosexual marriage in 2004. In April 2005,
David Parker, the parent of a six-year-old boy,
protested to the Lexington elementary school after his
son was taught about homosexual "families" in his
kindergarten class.
At a scheduled meeting at the school, when Parker
refused to back down from his request that the school
honor the Massachusetts parental notification statute,
he was arrested for "trespassing," handcuffed, and put
in jail overnight. The next morning Parker was led
handcuffed into court for his arraignment, and over
the next several months endured two subsequent
court appearances before the school district backed
down and decided to drop all charges against him. In
2007, Parker's lawsuit against the Lexington school
officials was dismissed by a federal judge who refused
to uphold his civil rights and to enforce the
Massachusetts parental notification statute. Parker's
shocking story will become commonplace in a society
that forces the acceptance of homosexual marriage as
normative.
Fact 9 - Polls consistently show that the majority
of Americans rejects same-sex marriage
Public opinion remains firmly opposed to the
redefinition of marriage. A May 2008 Gallup Poll asked
the question: "Do you think marriages between same-
sex couples should or should not be recognized by the
law as valid?" Respondents opposed homosexual
marriage by a margin of 56 percent (opposed) to 40
percent (agreeing). Respondents to a CNN/Opinion
Research Corporation poll in October 2007 rejected
same-sex marriage by the same margins.
Fact 10 - Support for traditional marriage
translates into ballot initiatives and laws around
the country
Because of strong public support for traditional
marriage, same-sex marriage advocates have attempted
to circumvent public opinion by redefining marriage
through the courts. Despite some victories, such as
in Massachusetts and California where the courts have
mandated same-sex marriage, there is a strong
national movement to protect traditional marriage. A
total of 45 states have instituted protections for
traditional marriage either through state constitutional
amendments or through laws: