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| Maria Miller |
We pointed out that the government’s response to its consultation, the comments in Parliament by Equalities minister Maria Miller (pictured), and the Freedom To Marry website all fail to address the truth that same-sex marriage lacks basic elements of true marriage - the complementary sexual difference between spouses necessary for the procreation and healthy upbringing of children.
As I told the media earlier today, the assumption running through the government’s approach is that marriage is simply a stable, long-term relationship. This ignores the specific identity of marriage as a child-bearing and child-centred institution, fundamentally different from homosexual relationships. There has been not one single direct statement by the government, either in its response to the consultation results nor in the last two days’ parliamentary debates, on the intrinsic link between marriage and children.
Similarly, the Tory-composed Freedom to Marry group makes no reference at all in its published material to the terms ‘child/ren’, ‘parent/s’, ‘family/-ies’, ‘father/s’, ‘mother/s’, ‘husband/s’ or ‘wife/-ves'.
Same-sex marriage represents an attempt to redefine marriage, thus undermining marriage. This undermining lessens the protection for unborn children which true marriage provides. The family based on real (i.e heterosexual) marriage is the safest place for children both born and unborn.
Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples ruptures the intrinsic link between marriage and children, thus reducing marriage to a mere contract of cohabitation. Yet marriage is a pre-political institution, and the State does not have the moral right to seek to redefine this natural institution in law.
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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