With New Hampshire soon becoming the fourth state in the U.S. to offer legal recognition to gay and lesbian relationships, the "traditional marriage" debate is once again heating up.
The religious right maintains that civil unions and gay marriage will break down the traditional family। They hold firm that God meant for marriage to be between one man and one woman for the purpose of procreation. I have heard television evangelists say that our laws were derived from the 10 commandments and that we are a Christian nation. Radical right wing websites plant the seeds of fear by equating civil unions and gay marriage to legalizing pedophilia!
Fear is a very powerful emotion. Fear is what enabled Hitler to execute millions of Jewish people. Fear is what convinced the American people that invading Iraq was the right thing to do. It is easier to fear and avoid the unknown than it is to embrace change. Only education and experience can ease the emotions caused by man made fear.
If we looked beyond the radical opinions on both sides and looked at what we have learned from experience, it is clear that gay marriage and/or civil unions do not break down the fabric of our society.
Looking toward experience for some answers, Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004. Most of the other New England states have some type of civil union laws. Providing legal recognition to gay relationships has not produced any negative change in the lives of any New Englander, it has not had an affect on heterosexual marriage nor has it produced an increase in pedophilia (as some would want you to believe).To find the correct answers to the questions surrounding the legalization of gay unions, one only needs take a rational look at the issues:
1. If my gay neighbors get married, how will this affect me? It won't
2. Is the institution of marriage a Christian owned institution or is this a legal contract? The state requires a marriage license, therefore, marriage is a legal contract. In addition, the state provides alternatives to religious marriage ceremonies.
3. Do we, as Christians, have the right to tell others, including others that practice a religion that allows gay marriage, they must live by our Christian laws? American is freedom of religion. Christians have no right to force their religious beliefs on others.
4. Marriage is for procreation, therefore, since gay people cannot procreate, these relationships should not be sanctified. If this were true we would require every couple to have a fertility test before they are married and disallow any infertile person to marry.
5. Sanctifying gay relationships will break down traditional families and marriages.
How can this possibly happen? Gay people are only asking for the same rights and responsibilities granted to heterosexual couples. Recognizing gay relationships will not cause more people to "be gay" nor will it break down any heterosexual marriage. The only possible way that gay relationship recognition would have an affect on the "traditional family" would be if you were looking at "traditional" in a biblical way. In that way, there would be no "man" of the family or biblical "head" of the household.
Sanctifying gay relationships will not hurt this country. It may even make this country stronger. It will open more people up to health insurance eligibility. It will take some off welfare rolls (once married, welfare will not cover the families if at least one person works). It will reduce the states liabilities to provide low income people with health insurance, child care reimbursement, etc because fewer families will meet the income qualifications for these services. But most importantly, it will provide your neighbors with the ability to visit their partners in the hospitals, sign consent for medical treatment for their partners and prevent the children in these families from having to feel ashamed of the parents that they love.
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