A generation ago, the abortion issue took a bad turn, because the proponents  framed the debate as being about “a woman’s right to choose”. Had the issue been about the unborn baby, odds are that it would have been decided in favor of the right to life.

Now, another cultural debate is occurring. This time the topic is marriage. Homosexual activists are framing the debate as being about “two people who love each other”. But authentic marriage is far more than this.

The French National Assembly sent a report to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which offered the following insights. “The interests of the child must outweigh the exercise of freedom by adults…whatever life choices are made by the parents. Marriage is thus not only the contractual recognition of a couple’s love. It is a demanding framework with rights and obligations designed to welcome a child and provide for his or her harmonious development. Traditional marriage must be preserved because it corresponds to the biological reality of the child, while same-sex relationships are infertile. Society has a duty to encourage optimum parenting since members of society bear the cost of parental failures and broken families.”

The French got it right.

There is really no societal benefit in homosexual unions. Such unions are strictly for the benefit of the couples involved in them.  Marriage, on the other hand, is a society in microcosm. The sexual union of husband and wife can bring forth new life. There is complementarity in male – female relationships. One need only examine the differences between men and women to understand nature’s purpose for each.

The fullness of human relationships resides in the family – mother, father, daughter, son, brother, sister. It is within the family that children are not only brought forth but also nurtured, protected and educated in social and religious values. The family provides all of this and more.  

As the first and vital cell of society, the family is the engine that drives a morally upright and prosperous nation through love and discipline.  Children develop their character by experiencing their parents’ behavior. It is essential to the proper development of children that they have male and female role models – ideally their fathers and mothers who are in a stable marriage.

The current campaign by the homosexual lobby seeks to capture their argument by using phrases like “Marriage Equality”.  This puts every form of sexual union on an equal plan which is not true because marriage is unique for a reason. Language has meaning.   The left makes war upon our culture by co-opting words to mean whatever advances their agenda.  We must avoid using their word tricks, and speak the truth clearly.

The Culture of Life embraces the dignity of everyone and produces a just society. Let us never be deceived into false paradigms which arise from the abuse of language for the sake of immoral ends.

Ted Meehan
Delaware County Pro Life Union