How to Defend Marriage

Just as most abortion proponents want to skip the debate about when life begins and argue about “choice” instead, most homosexual activists want to skip the argument about what marriage is.

by National Catholic Register | Source: Catholic.net

Editorial

Here is an updated version of our resource list of arguments and actions for readers.
Why homosexual marriage is wrong. 

World cultural and legal history has never thought of marriage as anything but one thing: the union of a man and a woman.

But just as most abortion proponents want to skip the debate about when life begins and argue about “choice” instead, most homosexual activists want to skip the argument about what marriage is.

Instead, they argue about rights or about discrimination. But the fact is, the law already severely restricts who can and can’t marry. Marriage is restricted by age, by previous marriage status and by kinship, for starters. And marriage necessarily has to be “discriminatory.” Its definition has to exclude other pairings (roommates, brothers and sisters, etc.) from claiming the benefits given to married couples.

Why does society have to restrict marriage so severely? Because marriage performs a crucial function for society. Its purpose is the propagation and protection of children, and to conform sexual relationships to morality. Homosexual “marriage” would do none of these things.

If either of your parents chose a homosexual marriage, you wouldn’t be here. And the uncomfortable truth that few are acknowledging is that homosexual lifestyles are not healthy — physically, emotionally or morally.

Proctologists advertise heavily in homosexual publications, because homosexual sex injures its participants. Even in countries where homosexuality is accepted, homosexuals suffer higher rates of depression and suicide than the general public.

And children are bound to suffer if their parents are part of the homosexual scene. From the Village People song “YMCA” to the Showtime television show “Queer as Folk,” homosexual culture has long celebrated sex with teens. One of the most-often searched for pornography terms on the Internet is “twink,” which is homosexual slang for underage teen-age boys. In The Gay Report, by homosexual researchers Karla Jay and Allen Young, the authors report data showing that 73% of homosexuals surveyed had at some time had sex with boys 16 to 19 years of age or younger.
What will follow homosexual marriage? 

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that legalized homosexual marriage will mean simply keeping things the way they are, only offering health benefits to homosexual couples.

In fact the changes will be dramatic: Public schools will include texts and materials treating the two types of marriages identically. If you die, your children could be adopted by either a homosexual couple or a heterosexual couple — to prefer one over the other would be illegal prejudice. Homosexual couples would be spotlighted whenever romance is spotlighted: On Valentine’s Day at the public library, in Christmas specials on television, and in billboards on the Interstates.
Why a marriage amendment is needed. 

Now that homosexual marriage is legal in Massachusetts, it will effectively be legal in your state, too. Federal precedent protects the status of people who move from state to state. Some 80% of the people who entered into civil unions in Vermont left the state after that. It will be the same in Massachusetts.

Many argue that marriage laws ought to be a state matter. But a national situation requires a federal response — and it’s easier to have one fight at the federal level rather than to wage 50 battles when losing any one would mean a total loss.
What you can do. 
Write to your representatives in state and federal government. Find their names and addresses by typing in your ZIP code at www.vote-smart.org. Use the arguments above or your own arguments. Tell them you back the Federal Marriage Amendment and are appalled that the U.S. Senate killed it. Ask what they plan to do to stop this assault on marriage.
Pray. In his apostolic letter on the rosary, Pope John Paul II called for daily rosaries for peace in the world, and for defense of the family. He said attacks on the family were “menacing … so as to make us fear for the future of this fundamental and indispensable institution and, with it, for the future of society as a whole.”
Evangelize. The only long-term solution to this crisis will be the re-Christianization of society. Take up the Holy Father’s straightforward and simple challenge to promote Sunday Mass, confession, prayer and community service.