Opposing Gay "Marriage"

We have not yet lost the battle for marriage, men. Take care of your own marriage, and fight for the institution.

I appreciated Jeff Jacoby's comments about media bias in reporting on this issue, but also his succinct statements about our responsibility to frame the discussion. Here's an excerpt:

"Preaching to the converted has its uses, and both sides engage in it, but gay and lesbian advocates didn't move the cause of homosexual marriage from the outlandish fringe to the liberal mainstream by speaking only to those who already agreed with them. They made their case in terms that the unconvinced could understand too, and framed their radical proposal as an issue of civil rights and family love. Those are appealing arguments -- especially if they are repeated often and infrequently rebutted. With so few leaders on the other side making an equally articulate case, it's not surprising that same-sex marriage advanced so far so fast.

Those of us who think this week's revolution is a terrible mistake need to do a much better job of explaining that the core question is not "Why shouldn't any couple in love be able to marry?" but something more essential: "What is marriage for?" We need to convey that the fundamental purpose of marriage is not to put a seal of approval on adult relationships but to unite men and women so that any children they may create or adopt will have a mom and a dad. Marriage expresses a public judgment that every child deserves a mom and a dad. Same-sex marriage, by contrast, says that the sexual and emotional desires of adults count for more than the needs of children. Which message do we want the next generation to receive?"