Marriage—under attack again‏

The family is under attack, and in Washington DC this weekend, so is the President. The GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender) community is hosting an Equality March on Washington to let the President know that between solving the healthcare crisis in America, writing his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, and taking over car companies, he needs to come through on some of the promises he made to the gay lobby during the election.

In last year’s election, California, Florida and Arizona flexed their bi-partisan muscles and said “no thank you” to radically altering the oldest institution in human history—marriage. These states join Georgia and 25 other states whose constitutions ban gay marriage. The stunning electoral defeat last year looks to me like a mandate for traditional marriage to anyone with eyes—but the media and gay rights activists are not spinning it that way. The gay marriage issue has lost in every single state, and in a year of record Democratic turnout, it lost again—even in California.

Why is that? Because one of the most important issues to conservative voters is the institution of marriage. But not just white voters. Many minority voters are very traditional in this area and they tell me they resent the gay lobby “hijacking” the civil rights movement for something
besides skin color or gender. Those on the other side of this argument, made up of mostly Democrats, the gay community and special interests, have utilized any and every thing to secure civil marriage for themselves—including municipal governments, state legislatures,
executive orders, courts, and did I mention, courts. The GLBT lobby and activist groups have employed every tactic to distort ballot initiatives and spin the issue as something other than what it is. Now, they want to apply pressure to President Obama and have him deliver for them.

How will they do that? The gay rights movement that defines itself mostly on private behaviors will be marching in the streets in Washington, DC this weekend and making demands on public policy. They want to redefine marriage. They insist on teaching children in the public schools that same-sex marriage is morally equivalent to traditional marriage. I am asking Georgians of all races to come together on the issue of traditional marriage and do all we can to protect this sacred institution.

The bottom line of all of this is that the devaluing of marriage has enormous consequences. One only needs to look at the research and statistics from the Netherlands to see how the devaluation of marriage has caused more and more people not to marry. The institution of marriage, one of the oldest on the planet, is the bedrock of civilization. And for that reason, all of us need to come together to protect marriage.

All that said, those who are engaged in homosexual behavior are people—who need love and forgiveness, and who need to understand the love of God. It is hard to engage in cultural battle and still have people feel that you love and accept them. Ugly rhetoric, inappropriate jokes, and ridicule should be off limits. And most importantly, we need to do a better job in our own marriages so we don’t lose the moral authority to talk about this issue. We obviously have a lot of work to do.

By John Oxendine

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