The Sanctity of Marriage
Over the past few decades, we have seen an organized effort to change the definition of marriage, an act defined by civil and religious law for millennia. Marriage has been historically recognized as a formal commitment between a man and a woman that becomes the basis of a family when the husband and wife produce children. Marriage is something very special and is a core foundation of society. Lately, some people want to change marriage to mean something else entirely.
Please understand that, while I do not advocate such an arrangement, I am not saying that a man should be prevented from having a long-term, committed relationship with another man… or a woman with another woman… but it should not be called the same thing. It is not the same thing. Such relationships cannot produce progeny. Simple as that. It is fine that such relationships be recognized somehow by law… and should enjoy the same privileges… such as employment benefits generally offered to the “spouse” of the worker or the right to be present if the other person is in the hospital, and other such situations. Even having the same tax status would be fine (though I believe the real solution is to change the tax method entirely… to a consumption-based tax, which makes this point moot… but that’s another discussion). In other words, a same-sex couple could enjoy all the same benefits… but it wouldn’t be called marriage. We’re talking about something that’s similar… but different… so it should have a different name. Seems pretty simple.
If such a legal status enjoyed all the same “benefits” of marriage, would be enough? If so, let’s do it. I would not want to deny loving couples in such a union the same legal rights as married couples.
But IS that enough? Are the advocates of same-sex-marriage truly driven because they don’t have the same rights… or is it the actual institution of marriage, the name itself, that they want to revise? Is this really a case of a tiny minority wanting to dictate change for the vast majority? Do they want to impose their wishes upon others who believe differently? If this is the case, then I am totally against it.
The question is: do same-sex-marriage advocates want the same rights as married couples? Or do they want to redefine what marriage is?
