Equal Rights, Yes! Same-Sex Marriage, No!
By Gordon Bishop (11/06/06)
For thousands of years, the word "marriage" means a union between a man and a woman.
Now, men who want to “marry” men and women who want to “marry” women are demanding that the rules and standards by which civilization has survived over these thousands of years of history be changed to accommodate homosexuals and lesbians.
They want all of the world’s dictionaries to be changed to redefine “marriage.”
This out-of-the-closet confrontation has led to lawsuits and decisions by State Supreme Courts and State Legislatures from coast to coast.
Liberal states are favoring action by the courts and lawmakers.
More conservative and moderate states prefer the use of such words as “civil unions” and “domestic partnerships.”
Of the 50 states, only Massachusetts legalized “same-sex marriage.” Those who seek “same-sex marriages” have headed to one of the most liberal states in the nation to take their vows of “woman to woman” and “man to man.”
What bothers the majority of heterosexuals (those who believe in opposite-sex marriages) is that the children of “same-sex marriages” have either two mommies or two daddies, instead of the traditional mommy and daddy families dating back thousands of years.
Nature developed opposite-sex marriages because it takes a man and a woman to make a child.
That all changed in the 20th Century with the development of medical technology that allows two men to inseminate their sperm in an agreeable surrogate (woman), or for two lesbians to keep their eggs and have a surrogate male fertilize their eggs. This is all done without traditional “intercourse.”
So much for thousands – and even millions of years – of natural breeding.
Technology can intervene and by-pass nature. So much for natural evolution.
Marcye and Karen Nicholson-McFadden, “domestic partners” from Aberdeen, NJ, were part of the historic NJ State Supreme Court decision on October 25, which said that “committed gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights as married couples.” The couple, however, was disappointed in the final decision.
By a 4-3 majority, the court stopped short of ordering the State Legislature to allow same-sex marriage.
Instead, the majority said marriage is not a “fundamental right” and ruled that state legislators should decide how to ensure equal protection under the law: by allowing “gay marriage,” or by creating a separate system that provides all of the same rights but without a different name.
The court later added, “The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to same-sex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.”
Marcye Nicholson-McFadden is hoping the State Legislature will do the right thing and approve same-sex marriage.
“We would have loved to get (a favorable rating) today and gone out and gotten married tomorrow,” she said. The couple has two children, a boy and a girl.
Marcye said her children asked if she and Karen (her partner) can get married.
“They didn’t say, ‘Can we have a civil union or a domestic partnership?” she said. Marriage “is what they know; that’s what they understand. There is an element of dignity and respect that comes with marriage.”
Marcye said their son is seven years old and their daughter 3-and-a-half. “Hopefully, we will walk down the aisle before they do.”
Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, said “The Supreme Court is invoking the Legislature to go further than it already has. We believe that the rights granted under civil unions are enough for homosexual couples.”
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has said he would oppose an amendment to bar same-sex marriage, but has also said marriage should be limited to man and woman.
“The court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to equal rights, and I look forward to the legislative process implementing the court’s decision,” Corzine said.
Voters in 19 states have approved constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage, and 41 states have laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
Proposals to limit marriage are up for a vote in eight other states in November.
As one New Jersey Baptist pastor put it, “To call something marriage that is not marriage doesn’t make it a marriage.”
Amen.
(Gordon Bishop is a “Who’s Who In America” national award-winning author, historian, syndicated columnist and New Jersey’s first “Journalist-of-the-Year” – 1986/New Jersey Press Association.)
(Printer friendly version) Email: Gordon Bishop
