Please, call me a homophobe. Gay marriage is wrong. Marriage is more than two people living together; it is a commitment, not only to support each other, but also to respect and to care for the other. In an era where a priest who deserts his family to live with his lover can be a spiritual leader, I am afraid.
That's why it is important to support President Bush's Marriage Protection Week against the pressure for unilateral acceptance of civil unions. They have taken my church, but they will not take my reverence for marriage.
In a time when traditional values are shunned, marriage is precariously poised to follow the trend. A family is created out of marriage, and just because families have been pushed away from moral values, doesn't mean marriage should be too. Marriage cannot succumb to the same fate as chivalry and responsibility.
Why attach such importance to marriage? What is it that maintains marriage's importance and need to be defended? Marriage creates family. Marriage creates stability.
Many argue that life partners may have the same commitments, but others, such as AU student Danielle Zook, believe that, "A woman is a compliment to a man, thus when the two are married, they become one and create a stable family environment." Marriage between a man and a woman has been around since the beginning of time. To stray from it now after thousands of years of success and happiness would be to endanger it beyond recognition. As the saying goes, God created "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."
Little girls will no longer dream about their weddings; mothers and fathers will no longer get the same thrill from hearing that their child is engaged. Civil unions will stigmatize and politicize a very mystical, sacred, revered state. It will become a political issue instead of a religious and traditional ideal. It will become a joke.
Marriage is already defamed by the culture of adultery, divorce and frivolity; the added stress of unprecedented marriage will make it a mockery. I have no authority to determine the quality of love between different relationships that should constitute marriage, but then again, no one does - it is something was determined thousands of years ago - the institution must be kept intact.
The implication of same sex marriages reaches across personal grounds and affects everyone. Marriage is a commitment between two people and the higher spiritual authority that the couple ascribes to. This is where the bond of marriage is created and maintained.
Yet, beyond personal religious beliefs, there are societal reasons to defend marriage against "civil unions." The marriage tax would be less fair than it already is. To begin with, marriage is not the business of the government. If we allow civil unions, then we'll also allow another failing government program to clutter our already overregulated lives. Welfare benefits and many other social programs would become even more inefficient and socially problematic than they already are.
Our entire social structure would be changed (and not for the best) if civil unions were permissible - legal documents and other contracts would need to be reworked. Also, what about the marriage tax for traditional couples? Would same sex couples be favored in the eyes of the tax and social benefit system? Who would determine all these questions?
As one who intends to be happily married, I take a personal responsibility in retaining the integrity of marriage for myself and all marriage supporters. Some may say I am dragging my feet at progress and that I am ignoring new ideas - and I agree. This is a situation which requires a respect and understanding of the values of the past, present and future.
I write today in defense of marriage now and always, not just for myself, but for my values, the values of those around me, and the ideas of the One that created marriage in the beginning.
