Same Sex Marriage
Dan posted on this topic a couple days ago, immediately after a Canadian court rendered a dicision validating a gay marriage and the government of Canada decided not to appeal (Read the story here).
I’ve had a hard time deciding where I stand on the issue of government recognition of gay marriage. My church has lobbied hard in the U.S. against the idea and I agree with the arguments they and others make about why government recognition of same-sex marriage would be a bad thing.
“We want to help these people, to strengthen them, to assist them with their problems and to help them with their difficulties. But we cannot stand idle if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation. To permit such would be to make light of the very serious and sacred foundation of God-sanctioned marriage and its very purpose, the rearing of families” (President Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 71).
I think that the real problem this issue brings up is being overlooked. The government shouldn’t be involved in the marriage of two individuals in the first place.
Here is a commentary by Radley Balko (www.theagitator.com) that does a pretty good job bringing up the issues that I have with government involvement in marriage. Read the whole thing…but here is a money quote:
…activists on the left and right still want to invite the state deeper into our relationships. They’re both wrong. It’s time to get the state out of our relationships.
Marriage is a contract. It’s an agreement between two people to love and support one another, to share resources and to perhaps share in the responsibility of raising children. Let’s start treating it that way. Hospitals, employers and insurers should be free to choose to respect and extend “marriage” benefits as they see fit.
I’ve always wondered why we need the government to “bless” marriage. Marriage pre-dates any other political governments. Since Adam and Eve, “man and wife” has been the simplest and most effective form of government on earth. It is more fundamental and natural than any government that has been dreamed up since. Why do we need the permission of a political authority to make a marriage valid? That has always bugged me.
My wife and I are members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. We believe we were married by someone who had authority from God to seal us together for time and eternity. The fact that some bureaucrat in the State of Utah gave us a marriage certificate should have been immaterial…but since we wanted the benefits granted a married couple that government recognition provides we had to get that certificate.
In the end it is our fault as a society that same-sex marriage is even an issue. If Government didn’t grant certain benefits to people married with government permission there would be much less desire on the part of those who live a homosexual lifestyle to be “married” in the first place.
What is happening in Canada is a perfect example of why this is going to come back to haunt us. Canada now recognizes gay marraige as being the same as traditional marriage between man and woman. What if there were another Canadian law stating that it was illegal for Canadian individuals, groups, or churches to say anything negative or “hateful” about homosexuality? (There is.) It isn’t a huge stretch to think that religions would then be obligated to recognize same-sex marriage as valid so they wouldn’t be in violation of “hate speech” codes. How slippery would the slope need to be before churches were required to recognize and perform these ceremonies in order to avoid the appearance that they are “anti-gay”.
I’ll admit this is a bit of a stretch and to be fair the PM of Canada has said his government will never compel churches to accept these marriages but who knows where we’ll be 20-30 years down the road? Is the gay rights movement going to stop pushing now that gay marriage has been recognized? As we make government more and more the arbiter of what a marriage is and what it isn’t the whole idea of marriage itself is jeopardized. We let finicky politicians and out of touch courts decide what our marriages are. This is yet another example of what happens when we as citizens look more and more to government for solutions to our problems and less and less to family, private organizations and churches.
The scary thing is that this issue is going to hit home very soon. A Massachusetts court has heard a case similar to the one in Canada and will be rendering a decision by mid-July. Most analysts expect that this liberal court will rule in favor of recognizing the same-sex marriage as valid. Expect to hear a whole lot of arguing about the issue of same-sex marriages during the next few months…but very little arguing over whether or not the government should have been involved in any of this in the first place.
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Most of this post was written late last night and I didn’t read all the way through it today when I actually saved it online. After reading it again I think I should have left out the argument about anti-hate laws. They are a completely seperate issue that would bring damage to churches even if the government weren’t the decider of what is and isn’t a valid marriage.
Comment by Jeremy — June 20, 2003 @ 1:26 pm
Well, if it was not for the 6th commandment and all that crap about loving your enemies, neighbors and all… I’d be all for a good gay bashing party.
Not to mention murder and hate crimes are fowned upon.
Comment by Michael — June 25, 2003 @ 4:36 pm
I don’t think it would be possible for me to disagree more with the above comment. I don’t think I’ve ever had the desire to hurt someone because of what they like to do in the privacy of their own bedroom. In fact…I think anyone who does have desires like that probably has more issues than the people they want to bash. Sorry Michael…
Comment by Jeremy — June 26, 2003 @ 9:27 am
More issues? Dang straight. Ha, straight… that’s what I am talking about.
Comment by Michael — June 26, 2003 @ 1:22 pm
I see no reason why people who love and care for each other should not be allowed the same benefits as anyone else in this world. People can argue the point of God not accepting homosexuals, but hey who created them to begin with?? Ummm yah, it was God. Then come the point on it being a choice. For some it is due to abuse issues, but for the most part it is not. When a child of 3-4-5 already is attracted to someone of the same sex it is coming straight from their own feeling and hasn’t been taught or decided uopn over abuse issues.
People like Michael are way more of a problem than any homosexuals could ever be…..The scary part is he will more than likely breed and carry on those values to his children.
Comment by chris — December 20, 2003 @ 6:29 pm
i have no problem with same sex marriages as long as it doesn’t effect me. i think that its ok as long as nobody hits on me
Comment by jeremy — October 12, 2004 @ 8:30 am