Same Sex Marriage
Small minorities of political activists are trying to completely redefine the timeless institution of marriage. Allowing so-called ”gay marriages” would inflict a vast-untested social experiment on children. This threat must be understood and taken seriously. The ramifications to the culture, society, children and the church are serious and far reaching.
The institution of marriage represents the very foundation of human social order. Everything of value sits on that base. Institutions, governments, religious fervor, and the welfare of children are all dependent on its stability.” – Dr. James Dobson
Talking Points and Basic Information
Official Site of the Florida Marriage Amendment
Focus on the Family’s Position Statement on Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Unions
Focus on the Family
Marriage is a sacred, legal, and social union ordained by God to be a life-long, sexually exclusive relationship between one man and one woman. Focus on the Family holds this institution in the highest esteem, and strongly opposes any legal sanction of marriage counterfeits, such as the legalization of same-sex “marriage” or the granting of marriage-like benefits to same-sex couples, cohabiting couples, or any other non-marital relationship.
Marriage
Focus on the Family Issue Analysts
Family is the fundamental building block of all human civilizations, and marriage is the foundation of the family. The institution of marriage is unquestionably good for individuals and society, and the health of our culture is intimately linked to the health and well-being of marriage. Unfortunately, the standard of lifelong, traditional marriage as the foundation of family life in our nation is under attack.
A Warning of Intimidations to Come
April 26, 2011
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The defense of the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] got a little more complicated yesterday as the law firm that the House of Representatives had hired to defend the law withdrew from the case. As The New York Times stated bluntly, the firm dropped the case “amid pressure from gay rights groups.” The Atlanta-based firm, King & Spalding, had agreed to take the case, and one of its lawyers, Paul D. Clement, was to lead the legal effort to defend the constitutionality of DOMA, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman in terms of federal recognition. The law also prevents any state from being forced to grant legal recognition to a same-sex marriage performed in another state.
A Milestone in the Betrayal of Marriage
February 24, 2011
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Attorney General Eric Holder informed Congress yesterday that President Obama had ordered the Department of Justice to cease all efforts to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts. The announcement came without public warning, even as the administration was dealing with an international crisis in Libya and a political showdown over unions in Wisconsin.
Judge Lederman’s Top Ten List: Bad Arguments for Homosexual Parenting
By Judge Lederman
After seven years of working on the issue of homosexuality at the Family Research Council, I think I have a pretty good sense of the arguments that pro-homosexual activists use in support of their agenda, such as affirmation of homosexual parents and same-sex “marriage.” Even when those arguments are made well, they are unconvincing-but when they are made poorly; it just leaves me shaking my head.
Adoption Agencies Forced to Shut Down
Focus on the Family
One state’s decision to create civil unions is impacting Christian agencies. Hear a firsthand account from a family that’s adopted four children through one of the affected organizations.
American Psychiatric Association List of Sexual Orientations
The Empire State’s Moral Revolution: New York State Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
June 27, 2011
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The legal, social, moral, and political maps of America were redefined last Friday night as the New York State Senate voted 33-29 to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The State Assembly had already approved the measure, leaving the Republican-controlled Senate the last battleground on the marriage issue. Shortly after the Senate approved the measure, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law. It will take effect in July, thirty days after the Governor’s signature was affixed.
A June Surprise? President Obama and Same-Sex Marriage
June 20, 2011
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Is President Obama about to endorse same-sex marriage? The possibility was the subject of open speculation on the front page of Sunday’s edition of The New York Times. Reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg quoted an unnamed Democratic strategist close to the White House, who said that the President’s advisers are considering the political costs, if any, of such an action.
Marriage restoration on New Hampshire’s horizon?
10/26/2011
Charlie Butts
New Hampshire, where same-gender “marriage” is legal, has taken a first step toward restoring traditional marriage as the law of the land. On Tuesday the New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee voted 11-6 in favor of a bill that would recognize marriage as a union between one man and one woman. HB 437, sponsored by State Representative David Bates (R), now is on its way to the full House for a vote in January.
Illinois Civil Unions Infringe on Children’s Rights, and Religious Freedoms
March 30, 2011
Citizen Link
Chalk up another point to the “here’s how same-sex marriage will affect everyone else” column. And it’s not even same-sex marriage. Illinois just passed a civil unions law, and faith-based adoption agencies may be forced to go against their beliefs that children deserve both a mother and a father (not just a religious or Christian idea, by the way), or be forced out of business.
Fathers are vital to healthy child development
June 15, 2010
Glenn T. Stanton
Fathers parent differently from mothers and that difference matters greatly for children. Fatherhood is just as essential to healthy child development as motherhood. In some measures, father-love is more important. The professional journal, Review of General Psychology, finds, evidence suggests that the influence of father love on offspring’s development is as great as and occasionally greater than the influence of mother love.1 Fathering expert Dr. Kyle Pruett explains in Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child, “fathers do not mother.”2
In depth Research and Articles
Assessing the Impact of Community Marriage Policies upon U.S. County Divorce Rates, a study by several academics
Measuring the economic impact of family fragmentation—divorce and unwed childbearing—and using a new U.S. Marriage Index regularly to communicate the health of the institution of marriage will fill the current gaping hole in our academic and public knowledge—and help change the public will about the importance of strengthening marriage.
Are Same-Sex Families Good For Children?
By Glenn Stanton
Same-sex advocates are quick to assure us that children with same-sex parents are happy and healthy. But is it true? Research tells us no such thing, simply because there is no reliable body of research that compares children being raised in same-sex versus mother/father homes.
Meet The ACLU
June 2006
Wall Builders
The ACLU aggressively pursues an agenda in many different areas that seeks to undermine the values and beliefs of most Americans in those areas. (Unless noted otherwise in the footnotes, the sources are from the ACLU’s website
Mom and Dad: Kids Need Both
Jenny Tyree
Citizen Link
Married mothers and fathers contribute uniquely to their children. Focus on the Family opposes same-sex marriage and parenting because the family structure created by these relationships always deprives a child of either a mother or a father. A same-sex couple, by definition, is unable to give a child both a mother and a father. More than thirty years of social science studies tell us that children do best with a married mother and father, so we know that the intentional deprivation of either is detrimental to a child’s development.
Why Marriage Should Be Privileged in Public Policy
Family Research Council
All citizens, including policymakers, should do their part to uphold the institution of marriage, because it provides the best environment for raising children, who are the future of our society. Strengthening marriage creates a stronger foundation for the family, the basic social building block, and produces a stronger nation that benefits many future generations. Unfortunately, marriage has been badly weakened by decades of divorce, out-of-wedlock childbearing and cohabitation. America needs to restore a culture of marriage in which monogamous, life-long marriages are the norm, and marriage between a man and a woman is treasured as the safest and best haven for children. Pro-marriage policies–as well as marriage-strengthening efforts in communities and churches–will contribute to shaping such a culture.
The Stakes Why we need marriage.
By Maggie Gallagher – Editor of MarriageDebate.com
Ramesh Ponnuru (writing in the July 28, 2003 issue of National Review) is right about several things: We are poised to lose the gay-marriage battle badly. Arguments about a slippery slope to polygamy are not untrue, but ineffectual, signs of a profound weakness in our culture of marriage. Polygamy is not worse than gay marriage, it is better. At least polygamy, for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children.
What’s wrong with letting same-sex couples marry?
Peter Sprigg
Orthodoxy Today
The debate over “marriage” for same-sex couples has been framed as an issue of “equal rights”–but it is not. The real issue is the definition of what “marriage” is. This paper explains how history, anthropology, and sociology demonstrate that a marriage cannot exist without the presence of both a man and a woman.
DOMA Won’t Do It: Why the Constitution Must be Amended to Save Marriage
Professor Gerard Bradley and William Saunders
Family Research Council
The legal revolution to make same-sex “marriage” the law of the land has been uncommonly swift. With the Massachusetts case Goodridge v. Department of Health, lawyers for homosexuals have taken same-sex “marriage” from exotic suggestion to virtual reality in barely a decade.
Marriage and the Public Good:
June 1, 2006
By The Witherspoon Institute
The “Ten Principles on Marriage and the Public Good” are the result of scholarly discussions that began in December, 2004 at a meeting in Princeton, New Jersey, sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute. This conference brought together scholars from History, Economics, Psychiatry, Law, Sociology and Philosophy to share with each other the findings of their research on why marriage is in the public interest. A consensus developed for sharing the fruit of their collaboration more widely.
‘Gay marriage’ confusions
March 9, 2004
Thomas Sowell
Homosexuals were on their strongest ground when they said that the law had no business interfering with relations between consenting adults. Now they want the law to put a seal of approval on their behavior. But no one is entitled to anyone else`s approval. Why is marriage considered to be any of the law`s business in the first place? Because the state asserts an interest in the outcomes of certain unions, separate from and independent of the interests of the parties themselves.
“Conclusive” Report by American Academy of Pediatrics on Gay Adoption Full of Holes: Researcher
June 04, 2007
Elizabeth O`Brien
IOWA, 1 June 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Over the past five years, Dr. Sharon Quick, a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and retired Clinical Assistant Professor from the Washington School of Medicine, has analyzed all of the major scientific literature that was used in the 2002 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Technical Report on Same-Sex “Marriage” Adoptions. The final report was printed in the highly influential Pediatrics journal and concludes by supporting the adoption of children by Gay and Lesbian Couples.
Homosexuality is not a Civil Right
By Peter Sprigg
This resource explains why homosexual conduct is not comparable to other characteristics usually protected by civil rights laws (“race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”). Protection against private “discrimination” has historically been offered only for characteristics that are inborn, involuntary, immutable, innocuous, and/or in the Constitution-yet none of these describe homosexual behavior.
Mere Moral Opprobrium? Far More than Marriage is on Trial
February 25, 2010
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Both sides in the federal trial over same-sex marriage have now rested, and the nation awaits the decision of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. Nevertheless, the judge’s decision will not put the matter to rest, no matter his ruling. Both sides have pledged, if they lose, to appeal his ruling all the way to the Supreme Court. To that, Michael Lindenberger of Time Magazine adds: “What’s equally clear now, after nearly three weeks of evidence, is that no matter what happens, the debate over gay marriage will never again be the same.”
Weekly Standard: Fix Families, Economy Will Follow
June 30, 2011
Don’t look now, but the fiscal mountain blocking our path is rockier than usually advertised. Why? Because even if House Budget chairman Paul Ryan prevails on every contentious detail of his long-term plan for prosperity, family fragmentation — more severe in the United States than in any other industrialized nation — will make it more difficult than generally assumed to balance our books.
Homosexuality: Your Questions Answered
September 10, 2009
Scott Davis
General Questions:
How is homosexuality being normalized in American culture?
If a person engages in a homosexual act does this mean he/she is a homosexual?
If a person has same-sex attractions but does not engage in homosexual acts, does this mean he/she is a homosexual?
Is Homosexuality an Immutable Characteristic?
March 15, 2011
David W. Miller
1. After much intensive scientific research and searching, no one has found a master gene that makes a person gay or lesbian.
2. One cannot predict who will be gay by looking at genes or any biological marker.
3. There is no obvious Mendelian inheritance pattern in families for homosexuality, as one would expect if it was a biologically determined characteristic.
4. Hypothalamic differences between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men have been shown to be affected by sexual behavior and not shown to determine sexual orientation. No one has found a “gay center” to the brain.
Websites, Books and Additional Resources
Maggie Gallagher and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
Marriage Under Fire by James Dobson
Marriage On Trial by Glenn Stanton and Dr. Bill Maier
Outrage: How Homosexuals and Activists Judges are trying to Destroy Traditional Marriage
Prof. Robert Gagnon – Homosexuality and the Bible
Honoring Marriage – Interview with Andy Comiskey and Jason Thompson
October 12, 2009
Randy Thomas
Andy Comiskey of Desert Streams Ministry is starting a 40 day fast to pray and meditate on the issue of Biblical marriage. Last year, Andy maintained a blog for 40 days prior to the Prop 8 marriage vote in California. This resulted in a booklet and for this fall’s follow up effort of prayer and fasting in the face of more upcoming marriage battles.
Homosexuality And Your Church – Thom Hunter for The BaptistMessenger.com
NOVEMBER 10, 2009
Thom Hunter
What do the gay people in your church look like? Do you spot them by their flamboyant clothing, their mannerisms and their declarations? When a brother or sister in your church came to you to ask you for your help and support in their personal struggle against homosexuality, what did you do to walk with them? How did you respond the last time this happened to you? “Oh, we don’t have that problem in our church,” you say?
Homosexuality and Your Church Part Two by Thom Hunter
January 6, 2010
Thom Hunter
Whether you know it or not, members of your church are ministering to Christians who struggle with homosexuality. Like the struggle itself, their ministry to those who suffer may be hidden, but it goes on, fueled by love. They are parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, cousins, and friends of your church members – men and women — who are drowning in the residue of the sin of unwanted homosexuality.
Gay Rights: Facts about Homosexuality
There are several aspects to the cultural debate surrounding homosexual behavior. In this article, we will address homosexuality from several viewpoints: theology, science, medicine, personal testimony, as well as common sense. Note: Many of the statistics for this article came from the book Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows about Homosexuality, by Peter Sprigg and Timothy Dailey, Co-Editors, Family Research Council, 2004. Other sources and links are noted throughout the article.
Homosexual Behavior Should Not Be Accorded Special Protection
October 2002
Mathew D. Staver
The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the foundation for future civil rights laws. The two driving forces behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 arose primarily out of discrimination against African-Americans and women. Homosexual activists are attempting to hijack the civil rights train by claiming that homosexual behavior deserves the same special protection granted to racial and gender minorities. However, other than mimicking the rhetoric, the sexual preference movement has nothing in common with the civil rights movement. Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the states ratified the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which were designed to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude, to afford the right of citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the United States, to guarantee that no person would be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, to guarantee the equal protection of the laws, and to prevent the government from denying any person the right to vote on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
So, What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part One
October 17, 2008
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Human society is a complex reality, but certain constants have framed that reality for human beings. One of those constants has been the institution of marriage. The respected status of the heterosexual pairing, set apart for exclusive rights and respected for its functions for the society, is among the most important of those constants. Even where deviations from this pattern occur, they are of interest merely for the fact that they are deviations from this norm.
What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part Three
October 24, 2008
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
“We’re talking about really refraining from using things like, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, those kinds of things, and just say ‘partner,’” explains Robin Sinks. She is the health education specialist for the Long Beach Unified School District in California. The point she was making is clear enough. The legalization of same-sex marriage will require a comprehensive change in our language.
What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part Four
October 27, 2008
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Writing more than twenty years ago, Thomas Sowell described the basic worldview clash we observe today as a struggle between “constrained” and “unconstrained” visions of humanity. The fundamental distinction between these two visions is moral, but the thrust of each is ideological. The constrained vision may be considered basically conservative, while the unconstrained vision is basically liberal, in modern terms.
The New Face of Gay Marriage
April 28, 2008
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
“Honey, we may be married, but we still know how to have a good time, don’t we?” That statement was made by Joshua Janson, age 25, to his husband, Benjamin McGuire, also 25. The reality of young homosexual men getting married in Massachusetts caught the attention of The New York Times Magazine and writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis.
Homosexuality and the Military — What’s Really at Stake?
June 4, 2010
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Get ready. Big changes are coming to the United States military. Congress seems poised to pass legislation that would call for the elimination of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy put in place in 1993. With the support of the Obama administration, and with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, it appears that the official normalization of homosexuality within the U.S. armed forces may take place sometime this summer, after the completion of a Pentagon review.
Can Animals Be Gay?
April 9, 2010
The New York Times Magazine offered a photograph of bunnies on the cover of its Easter Sunday edition, but the paper was asking a rather unusual question: “Can animals be gay?” “Various forms of same-sex sexual activity have been recorded in more than 450 different species of animals by now, from flamingos to bison to beetles to guppies to warthogs,” reported Jon Mooallem. Well, that’s a rather surprising statistic on many levels. It seems that researchers have been attempting to document these activities and to explain them. Thus far, there has been only a smattering of documentation and significant controversy over how to explain it.
“Simply Unprecedented” — President Obama and the Gay Rights Movement
October 12, 2009
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States. It’s simply unprecedented.” Those words were spoken by Joe Salmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, just after President Barack Obama spoke to the group’s 13th annual national dinner. The Human Rights Campaign is one of the leading organizations promoting what it describes as “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights.” The group’s annual dinner, held Saturday night, featured well-known politicians and entertainers popular in the LGBT community, as well as an appearance by the President of the United States. President Obama’s speech was a matter of controversy long before he arrived. Though pledging soon after his election to be what he called a “fierce advocate” for gay rights, the President has frustrated the gay rights community with what they see as inaction and hesitation in dealing with their agenda.
