Why not let same-sex couples marry? They’re not hurting anyone, are they?
The most fundamental purpose of marriage has always been to provide children with the optimal environment in which to grow up emotionally healthy and prepared to succeed in life as adults. Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples will hurt, first, children and, ultimately, our society as a whole.
Harm to Children. Boys and girls need both a male and a female parent in order to grow up as emotionally healthy, well rounded men and women. Boys learn how to be men from their fathers, while girls learn how to be women from their mothers. Both boys and girls learn how to relate with the opposite gender by relating with their parent of the opposite gender and by watching their father and mother relate with each other. Children raised by same-sex couples are deprived of these essential formative experiences. There is also abundant evidence that children who are not raised by their natural father and mother in a stable marriage have significantly higher rates of many social problems, including school failure or expulsion, drug abuse, criminal activity, physical and emotional health problems, poverty, unwed motherhood, and the breakup of their own marriages as adults.
Harm to Society. For many centuries and in all cultures, man-woman marriage has been the fundamental building block of a healthy society. Our society depends on stable, man-woman families to raise each new generation of children into healthy, well-rounded adults who are qualified and prepared to assume a responsible role in society. Children who are not raised by their married mother and father experience significantly higher rates of many social problems, including school failure or expulsion, drug abuse, criminal activity, physical and emotional health problems, poverty, unwed motherhood, and the breakup of their own marriages as adults. These problems negatively impact society as a whole in very significant ways.
Won’t Proposition 8 deprive same-sex couples of important legal rights?
No. On the contrary, failure to pass Proposition 8 will deprive millions of Californians of fundamental religious liberties.
Same-sex Legal Rights. Same-sex couples are free to live their lives as they choose, and California law already grants to same-sex couples all of the legal rights that can be obtained through marriage. Proposition 8 will not change any of that. The debate is not about the legal rights of same-sex couples. It is about whether four judges should be allowed to cancel out the will of an overwhelming majority of California voters by changing the very nature and definition of marriage, and it is about the harmful effects of that change upon children and society.
Infringement of Religious Liberty. If same-sex marriage is given legal recognition, public schools in California will be required to teach all students that there is no difference between man-woman marriages and same-sex marriages. Schools will contradict and undermine parents who teach their children that homosexual behavior is morally wrong based upon their religious beliefs. In countries where same-sex marriage has been legally recognized, people who express their religious belief that homosexual behavior is immoral are being criminally prosecuted. There is also a possibility that a church that opposes same-sex marriage will be denied its tax-exempt status once same-sex marriage is legally recognized.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
20 Reasons to vote YES on Prop 8:
to protect MARRIAGE
Prop 8 protects marriage as an essential institution of society. Marriage is an institution which pre-exists both church and government, and is the foundation of all known civilizations and societies. History shows us that marriage is an essential institution in preserving social stability and perpetuating life itself – which is why the state has a compelling interest in preserving and protecting it. Central to the state’s interest in marriage is the procreation and rearing of children. Marriage advances the state’s interest in ensuring the birth and rearing of children in the setting most likely to ensure their well-being and protection, and providing the next generation the training and attributes necessary to sustain a civilized society. Hence, married couples in almost every culture have been granted special privileges and have been held to important obligations, by force of law, all aimed at sustaining their relationship and promoting the environment in which children are reared.
Advocates of gay marriage tend to see marriage as a ceremony between individuals, primarily to ratify their affections. Contrary to what gay activists assume, the state does not endorse marriage because people have feelings for one another. The state endorses marriage primarily because of what marriage does for children and in turn for society. Society gets no benefit from redefining marriage to include homosexual relationships — only harm. Legalizing gay marriage will transform the meaning, expectations and practices of marriage as a social institution – in essence destroying marriage as we know it – in a reckless social experiment with numerous destructive consequences.
http://beetlebabee.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/why-preserve-man-woman-marriage/
I find it interesting that the very people who demand tolerance and acceptance are dishing out intolerance and condemnation. That’s not the way to make friends in communities they seek acceptance from.
Los Angeles interfaith leaders voiced their support for the LDS church this afternoon, saying: “The peaceful faiths, families, educators, activists, and community servants who make up the protect Marriage Coalition are saddened to hear of the continued targeted attacks on the Mormon people during and after the conclusion of this fair and certified election. Like many churches, the family is the anchor of the LDS faith and it is no surprise that its members in California joined other faiths in giving everything they had to Proposition 8.“
http://beetlebabee.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/pride-predjudice-prop8-rage/
Post a Comment