Saturday, October 8, 2016

And You Thought It Was About Equality?

Leading lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) advocates admit that redefining marriage changes its meaning.  E.J. Graff cheerfully acknowledges that redefining marriage changes the “institution’s message,” which will “ever after stand for sexual choice, for cutting the link between sex and diapers.”  Same-sex marriage, she argues, “does more than just fit; it announces that marriage has changed shape.”  … Andrew Sullivan says that marriage has become “primarily a way in which two adults affirm their emotional commitment to one another.”

Some advocates of redefining marriage embrace the goal of weakening the institution of marriage in these very terms.  “[Former President George W.] Bush is correct,” says Victoria Brownworth, “when he states that allowing same-sex couples to marry will weaken the institution of marriage. . . .  It most certainly will do so, and that will make marriage a far better concept than it previously has been.”  Professor Ellen Willis is delighted that “conferring the legitimacy of marriage on homosexual relations will introduce an implicit revolt against the institution into its very heart.”

Michelangelo Signorile urges same-sex couples to “demand the right to marry not as a way of adhering to society’s moral codes but rather to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution.”  Same-sex couples should “fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely, because the most subversive action lesbians and gay men can undertake…is to transform the notion of ‘family’ entirely.”


Ryan T. Anderson, “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” pg.41-41.

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