Proposition 8 - Protecting Marriage

For the past several weeks, we have had the exciting opportunity to help out with the Yes on Prop 8 campaign out here in California. This proposition seeks to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Eight years ago in 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 which officially declared that only marriage between a man and a woman would be recognized by the state. This proposition passed with over 61% of the vote. Julie's parents helped out in that effort back then to get that proposition passed and everyone was thrilled when their efforts were successful. Everyone thought we had protected traditional marriage in California.

All of that came crashing down, however, when just a few months ago, 4 Californian judges overturned that law declaring it unconstitutional. That's 4 judges overriding the will of over 4 million Californian voters.

So, here we are again. This time we are trying to get this passed as a constitutional amendment so that we can restore the will of the people and preserve the institution of marriage for the next generation.

Just recently, I attended a fireside where we got to hear from one of the lawyers who has played a prominent role in protecting marriage and religious rights here in California. He spoke about some of the ramifications of the current movement to legalize same-sex marriage. He boiled it down to 3 points. If same-sex marriage becomes accepted in society, it makes the statement that 1) men and women are interchangeable, 2) a child does not ideally need a mother and a father to be properly reared and 3) anyone who believes otherwise is a bigot.

The first ones who will suffer from this are the children. One of the primary purposes of the marriage institution is to ensure that children are given a stable, loving environment where they can be raised by a mother and a father. International law states that a child has a *right* to be raised by his/her biological mother and father, the only exception being where it is in the best interest of the child (not the parents). Study after study have proven that the best environment for a child to be raised is in a home with both a mother and a father.

What happens when same-sex marriage becomes accepted? We only need look at Massachusetts. Catholic Charities of Boston for years has been one of the most respected and most effective adoption agencies in Massachusetts. They have been particularly effective in placing hard-to-place children. When Massachusetts decided to legalize same-sex marriages, Catholic Charities held to their founding principles and refused to adopt to same-sex couples, referring them instead to state and other agencies that would. Well, this was not good enough for the State and they basically came down and said "You are licensed by the state. If you do not allow adoptions to same-sex couples, we will revoke your license." Catholic Charities could not and would not violate their founding principles and instead, they closed their doors and left the state. Who loses here? The children.

One thing that many people don't seem to understand is that marriage is more than just a word. It is more than just a contract between two people. Marriage is an social institution that has built up a deep meaning and context over thousands of years. The terms Husband and Wife, Bride and Groom, Father and Mother are all intertwined and carry deep meaning. There is a reason that no one really celebrates the signing of a contract between two people, yet a wedding is usually one of the biggest events of a person's life. Attaching the term "marriage" to same-sex unions does not grant them all of this context and meaning. All it does is strip the word "marriage" of all that meaning and reduce it to little more than just a contract between party A and party B.

The fact of the matter is, same-sex couples have nothing to gain by legalizing same-sex marriage. They already enjoy all of the legal benefits of marriage under current civil union law. All they get out of it is a word, but only after they strip the word of all of its meaning.

So, that is why I am helping out with this effort. I've been going door-to-door with other members of our ward and community to get the word out on this proposition. We've got a lot of people helping out in this effort and our numbers are growing. I would encourage anyone reading this blog to help out in anyway possible. If you have the means, you can donate to the campaign at www.protectmarriage.com. If you live in California, you can talk to your friends and neighbors and make sure you get out and vote. There is a lot at stake here but with God's help we can win this battle and preserve our heritage and our liberties for our children and grandchildren.

Here is a great 2-minute message by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on this subject.