California Court Approves Gay Marriage—What Does It Mean?
A commentary by Scott Ashley
Good News managing editor
Last month four justices of the California Supreme Court dealt
a huge blow against marriage and family by approving same-sex marriage,
overturning the expressed desire of millions of state voters.
Then,
beginning last week, thousands of homosexual couples across the
state began obtaining marriage licenses on which the words "Party
A" and "Party
B" replaced "bride" and "groom." Many hastily
married in front of crowds of well-wishers and scattered protesters.
The court
decision overruled a 2000 state ballot initiative, approved by Californians
by a 61-39 percent majority, defining marriage as only between a
man and a woman. To their credit, clerks in some counties protested
the ruling by refusing to perform marriage ceremonies altogether
rather than officiate for homosexual couples.
Writing for the minority
that opposed the court's ruling, one justice
stated that the court "simply does not have the right
to erase, then recast, the age-old definition of marriage, as
virtually all societies have understood it, in order to satisfy
its own contemporary notions of equality and justice" (emphasis
added throughout).
Another justice wrote in a dissenting opinion
that the court's decision "does
that which it acknowledges it should not do: it redefines marriage
because it believes marriage should be redefined."
And
that is indeed what has happened. The centuries-old definition of
marriage as a committed legal relationship between a man and a woman
has now been tossed out by four activist judges.
What's really
behind the push for gay marriage? Advocates admit that it's
really to further a homosexual agenda to transform society.
As
one homosexual same-sex marriage proponent wrote: "A middle
ground might be to fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits
and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely,
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."
"Being queer is more than
setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender and
seeking state approval to do so," wrote another. "Being
queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality and family,
and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society
... We
must keep our eyes on the goals of providing true alternatives to
marriage and radically
reordering society's view of reality."
Underscoring
such statements, after the court decision was announced an American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Web site gloated: "We
won the marriage case in California. No need for hyperbole here; this
is big ... [Gay]
marriage in California will transform the discussion of marriage
nationwide ... The
fact that California is marrying same-sex couples will put considerable
pressure on the rest of the country to recognize those marriages
... Cultural
change in California is usually a preview of what is to come
in the rest of the United States ... This was a prize of
inestimable value."
Clearly the California court decision
has major implications for the rest of the country. As one gay activist
wrote: "The sheer number of [homosexual]
couples who will marry (and divorce, it is California, after all),
will forever change this debate. It will cause a legal mess, as
many of these married couples—often
with children—migrate to [other] states."
Underlying
this reality is the fact that California has no residency requirement
for a marriage license. Georgetown University government professor
Clyde Wilcox noted that many homosexual couples will come to California
to marry, then return to their home states and sue to have their
marriages recognized. Thus the legal and moral chaos is likely to
quickly spread throughout the nation.
We have just seen a major
step forward for the gay agenda. Others will follow, probably through
increasing efforts in schools to indoctrinate children into believing
that homosexual behavior is perfectly normal. Children will likely
even be encouraged to explore same-sex feelings and attraction.
If you don't
believe it, do a little research and you'll find these are
already happening!
Sadly, we can expect more of the same—if
not worse—in the future.
Once a country, its courts and its leadership sever themselves from
biblical standards of morality, the only thing they have left to
rely on is human reasoning. And Proverbs 14:12 tells us where that
leads: "There is a
way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."
  Why
does the Bible teach that marriage within the traditional concept
of family is one of the most important principles of acceptable
human conduct? For straight-forward, plain-speaking answers simply
read online, download or request a printed copy of our enlightening
free booklets: What Is Your Destiny? and Marriage
and Family: The Missing Dimension.
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