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Guest
Stable marriages, even gay ones, are what society needs
Idaho Statesman, 2.25.2006
idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS0503/602250314&SearchID=73236933904830
. . . It is not the right nor the responsibility of the Legislature to decide moral issues. While all lawmaking is to some extent legislating morality, the basis for laws is not personal theology but what is best for society.
Lawmakers face personal tension in laws that allow actions the individual legislator sees as immoral. Examples include abortion, gambling, use of alcohol, divorce, race issues and capital punishment. Because homosexual activity is legal in Idaho, the morality of it is not the lawmakers’ responsibility. The morality of what gay people do is not any more of an issue than is the morality of those who go to Jackpot and gamble or those who go to bars and drink.
This brings up the second point. The argument says that allowing two people of the same gender to form a legal union would weaken marriage and weaken family life. I strongly disagree and, in fact , believe that allowing same-gender legal unions would strengthen marriage and family life.
What weakens marriage and family life are people who live together, have children together, without any legally recognized commitment. There are thousands of children in Idaho today who have never known a stable marriage or any stable family life.
Many people in the gay community want a stable union. They want to publicly make a commitment. The effort for “gay marriage” or “civil unions” is a movement reaffirming the importance of commitment and family life. The gay lifestyle is criticized for its lack of structure, its promiscuity, its disregard of convention. But society has worked very hard to deny homosexual people any opportunity to have structure.
There are thousands of gay men and women in Idaho. They are citizens and they have rights. Their desire for stable recognized unions strengthens the argument that society needs marriage commitment and family life.
Gay people are never again going to be a closeted silent minority. The rest of society must accept that reality, whether they like it or not. If laws are made about gays, they must be fair and just laws.
The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher is pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
Idaho Statesman, 2.25.2006
idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS0503/602250314&SearchID=73236933904830
. . . It is not the right nor the responsibility of the Legislature to decide moral issues. While all lawmaking is to some extent legislating morality, the basis for laws is not personal theology but what is best for society.
Lawmakers face personal tension in laws that allow actions the individual legislator sees as immoral. Examples include abortion, gambling, use of alcohol, divorce, race issues and capital punishment. Because homosexual activity is legal in Idaho, the morality of it is not the lawmakers’ responsibility. The morality of what gay people do is not any more of an issue than is the morality of those who go to Jackpot and gamble or those who go to bars and drink.
This brings up the second point. The argument says that allowing two people of the same gender to form a legal union would weaken marriage and weaken family life. I strongly disagree and, in fact , believe that allowing same-gender legal unions would strengthen marriage and family life.
What weakens marriage and family life are people who live together, have children together, without any legally recognized commitment. There are thousands of children in Idaho today who have never known a stable marriage or any stable family life.
Many people in the gay community want a stable union. They want to publicly make a commitment. The effort for “gay marriage” or “civil unions” is a movement reaffirming the importance of commitment and family life. The gay lifestyle is criticized for its lack of structure, its promiscuity, its disregard of convention. But society has worked very hard to deny homosexual people any opportunity to have structure.
There are thousands of gay men and women in Idaho. They are citizens and they have rights. Their desire for stable recognized unions strengthens the argument that society needs marriage commitment and family life.
Gay people are never again going to be a closeted silent minority. The rest of society must accept that reality, whether they like it or not. If laws are made about gays, they must be fair and just laws.
The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher is pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.