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Jewish World Review May 24, 1999 /9 Sivan 5759

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Econophone

Gay 'marriage' -- don't pass go

(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
THE OPENING SALVO of the American Revolution was fired in Massachusetts.

Last week, the Bay State became the latest battleground in another revolution (whose outcome could prove no less fateful), when an ecumenical alliance announced its support for a bill to codify marriage in Massachusetts as the union of a man and a woman.

The group includes a prominent Hasidic rabbia, the ministers of the largest black and Asian churches in New England, the state's Roman Catholic bishops, and the imam of a major mosque.

A legislative hearing on the bill included the bizarre spectacle of white liberals from Cambridge chiding black inner-city pastors for their supposed intolerance.

At the coalition's press conference before the hearing, the media lobbed projectiles. Question: Isn't this unnecessary? We don't have gay marriage in Massachusetts. Question: At one time, weren't people equally concerned about interracial marriage?

Question: Should sterile heterosexuals be allowed to marry? This last in response to the observation that the family is the bridge to the future.

Before considering these challenges, some background is in order.

Homosexuals activists want gay marriage very badly but know they can never get it from an elected body. So, they scheme and maneuver to have it mandated by the courts --- which makes the why-worry argument so ironic.

Hawaii's supreme court was poised to force gay marriage on the Aloha State, until voters amended its constitution to block the move. In June, Vermont's high court is expected to rule on the question.

The movement needs a victory in only one state. Then, gay couples from other states will flock there for a license and ceremony, return home and demand recognition of their unions under the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause.

To avert this, in 1996, Congress overwhelmingly enacted and Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), giving states the option of not recognizing same-sex marriages legally contracted elsewhere.

But will the Supreme Court uphold the act? If Vermont's justices legislate homosexual marriage, gays will immediately challenge DOMA's constitutionality.

If DOMA is upheld, it's crucial for states to be on record defining marriage as it has been understood for millennia. To date, 29 states have done just that.

Even in liberal Massachusetts, the movement knows it can't win a fair fight in the open. Hence, the strategy is to characterize the coalition's bill as hateful, divisive and unnecessary, and, in the words of one activist, "to work with our friends behind the scenes to ensure that the bill ... ultimately dies a quiet death."

But this is a debate that must take place and an issue on which government has to take a stand --- for the future of our families and nation.

The arguments against limiting marriage to a man and woman will not withstand scrutiny.

That marriage licenses are issued to sterile couples is irrelevant. It isn't a particular union that's afforded special recognition and support, but an institution in which children are born and nurtured. Even if a given man and woman can't procreate, others in the same relationship can.

As for equating gay marriage with interracial marriage, the Bible identifies the genders of Adam and Eve, not their races. It is the joining of a man and a woman which is consecrated, not the union of members of the same race.

The segregationist objection to interracial marriage was not that the couple couldn't have children, but precisely that it could, thus diluting the "purity" of the white race.

A racially mixed marriage is natural, in that nature allows the couple to procreate. Because they can't, the union of two men or two women is unnatural.

Ultimately, the drive for gay marriage is a quest for legitimacy and compulsion. Bob Knight, author of "Age of Consent: The Rise of Relativism and Corruption of Popular Culture," observes, "What first asks for tolerance soon begins to make demands for acceptance, and then seeks mandatory acceptance."

We're already seeing this in public-school indoctrination in the guise of teaching tolerance. If gay marriage is legalized, watch for activists to next attack the tax status of churches and synagogues that refuse to perform these nuptials.

Gay marriage isn't the final step, but one more step in the radical transformation of society. In Massachusetts, some brave religious leaders are in effect saying, "Further, you shall not go."


Up

5/19/99: Little Bill, you had a busy week
5/17/99: Gun control, campaign-finance reform -- two liberal illusions
5/12/99: Watch Quayle go from "incredible" to quite credible
5/10/99: Conservatives excluded from academic diversity
5/05/99: Expecting the impossible of parents
5/03/99: Gore race-baits with impunity
4/29/99: Why Kosovo? Oh, just because
4/27/99: The president's pro-parent claptrap
4/22/99: McCain plays to the media
4/19/99: NATO would have favored the confederacy
4/14/99: Before we march into Kosovo
4/12/99: Taiwan more worthy of U.S. support
4/09/99: Bauer and Forbes --- Main Street vs. Wall Street
4/05/99: Bubba and Maddy lit Kosovo's fire
3/29/99: At Passover, Egypt is a state of mind
3/29/99: Could the GOP stand Pat in 2000?
3/17/99: Hollywood's party line in 1999
3/15/99: All bow, the court is in session
3/11/99: In praise of negative campaigning
3/09/99: Day-care study defies common sense
3/04/99: Starship Clinton orbits Kosovo
3/01/99: Public will blot out Broaddrick's accusation
2/25/99: Slick Hillie for Senate would be fun
2/23/99: Fascism in the name of fighting fascism
2/16/99: Was anything learned from the impeachment trial?
2/12/99: Educating the democratic voters of tomorrow
2/10/99: First Amendment doesn't apply to pro-life cause
2/08/99: Dems' triumph over Constitution complete
2/03/99: Blood of victims will drown out breakfast prayers
2/01/99: Without a home the heart knows no rest
1/29/99: Poster boy for term-limits
1/27/99: The 'so-what' defense in the City of Saints
1/25/99: Whose choice?
1/21/99: Censure worse than nothing
1/18/99: Words can`t dignify a dishonored presidency
1/13/99: Conservatism "with a heart" is conservatism without a head
1/11/99: If he isn't removed, watch out for Bill!
1/07/99: We can learn a lot from Teddy
1/05/99: Monica and a call to modesty
12/30/98: Will Bubba get away with it again?
12/28/98: Zionist dream alive and well on West Bank
12/18/98: Impeach or abandon the Rule of Law
12/16/98: Clinton moves Middle East closer to war
12/14/98: Why we lost interest in the homeless
12/10/98: No place at table for conservatives
12/07/98: The day America lost its innocence
12/02/98: Pilgrims Pilloried in streets of Plymouth
11/30/98: Caribbean dogpatch not a good candidate for statehood
11/25/98: Will Vermont force gay marriage on the nation?
11/23/98: The ACLU wants your kids to get a love life
11/18/98: Why liberals hate tobacco and guns more than drugs and crime
11/16/98: "Pleasantville" a countercultural morality play
11/13/98: Ads are a tough sell for abortion
11/09/98: Why gutless Republicans lost
11/06/98: Historians against the Constitution
11/02/98: Loving response to a hateful conference
10/28/98: Professor Death will fit right in at Princeton
10/26/98: Plymouth caves to Pilgrim foes
10/21/98: On '98 election, keep a critical eye on polls
10/19/98: Clinton could yet be 'prosperity president'
10/16/98: Working families -- Dems love 'em (stuffed)
10/09/98: Majoring in 'weirdness'
10/07/98: Friends of Billy Clinton
9/29/98: Letter from ex-soldier highlights defense peril
9/28/98: Answering arguments against impeachment
9/18/98: The nation that doesn't exist
9/14/98: Bubba isn't the only one who should be ashamed
9/11/98: Resolution of Clinton crisis will define national character
9/09/98: We're still just wild about Harry
9/07/98: Mexican banditry didn't end with Pancho Villa
9/02/98: Clinton forgives us!
8/31/98: Ashcroft's plain talking touches responsive chord
8/26/98: Public opinion be damned
8/24/98: Why liberals condone Clinton's lies
8/20/98: Time to move on -- to impeachment
8/12/98: With Bubba in the sexual privacy zone
8/10/98: The truth won't set Clinton free
8/06/98: Truth about Hiroshima is incontrovertible
8/04/98: Clinton not the first hollow president
7/30/98: "Small Soldiers" -- a fractured Vietnam allegory
7/27/98: Crime wave hits hometown
7/22/98: Love in an Internet fishbowl
7/20/98: Ads bring ex-gay movement out of closet
7/15/98: Brian and Amy -- the children of Roe
7/13/98: Why are we scared of obnoxious 'activists?'
7/6/98: Fonda still resists reality
7/1/98: New York blesses domestic partnerships
6/29/98: Teddy and Calvin stood for virtue
6/24/98: Will Clinton betray Taiwan?
6/22/98: Big tobacco? What about big casinos?
6/15/98: Religion -- God for what ails you
6/10/98: Planning Clinton's China itinery
6/8/98: Republicans' Custer offers advice
6/4/98: Oh, Dems Christian-bashers!
6/2/98: Goldwater did conservatives more harm than good
5/27/98: A Clinton-hater confesses
5/15/98: Giuliani's assault on marriage
5/13/98: Hillary knows what's best for everyone
5/11/98: To honor her would not be honorable
5/6/98: Conservative chasm: pragmatism vs. worship of marketplace
5/4/98: Anglo-saxon me
4/29/98: Needle exchange programs are assisted-suicide
4/27/98: Chretien's mission of mercy to Fidel
4/22/98: School-choice is a religious freedom issue
4/20/98: Corporate execs deliver body parts to Beijing
4/14/98: National sales tax --- looks better all the time
4/13/98: The U.N. sinister? Hey, where did that idea come from?
4/8/98: Unions fight workers rights in 226 campaign
3/30/98: Africa's leaders should apologize
3/25/98: GOP shouldn't look to media for advice
3/22/98: You should care about Clinton's 'private life'
3/19/98: Color-coded reading, product of obsessive minds
3/16/98: Amendment will end exile of G-d from our public lives
3/9/98: Havana will break your heart
3/2/98: Vouchers Terrify Teachers' Union
2/25/98: Presidential politics starts at a resort hotel
2/23/98: Hillary's support comes at a price
2/18/98: How many times must we say "no" to gay rights?
2/16/98: Enoch Powell spoke the truth on immigration
2/11/98: Bubba behaving badly
2/9/98: A conservative dissent on the flag-burning amendment
2/5/98: We get the leaders we deserve
2/2/98: Send a signal that could penetrate boardroom doors
1/27/98: State of the president: hollow rhetoric
1/25/98: For Monica's playmate, we have no one to blame but ourselves
1/22/98: At Yale, bet on yarmulke over gown
1/19/98: Commission tackles America's fastest-growing addiction, gambling
1/15/98: Capital punishment and the hard case: no exceptions for Karla Faye Tucker
1/12/98: Partial-birth abortion and the GOP's future: the "big tent" meets truth in advertising
1/8/98: IOLTA: the Left's latest scam to crawl into our pockets
1/5/98: Connect the dots to create a terrorist state
1/1/98: The Unacceptables of 1997: Long may they rave
12/28/97: Hypocrisy is a liberal survival mechanism
12/23/97: Chanukah is no laughing matter
12/22/97: No merry Christmas for persecuted Christians around the world
12/18/97: Bosnia, Haiti, and how not to conduct a foreign policy


©1999, Creators Syndicate