Several months ago, Australians overwhelmingly voted to change the law regarding "same-sex marriage". I voted against this. I voted no for several reasons; some pragmatic, some philosophical. Some people like to deny statistics that show that lesbian couples have the highest rates of child abuse, that 1/3 of pedophiles are gay men despite making up 1% of the population, and that teaching kids in school about mental disorders like homosexuality and gender identity disorder as part of propaganda programs would become mandatory if same-sex marriage was brought into law. Those facts are important but are not the focus of this post.
If we dig down philosophically we will find that gay marriage can not exist and can never exist. To understand why there can't be gay marriage we need to know what marriage is. To understand what marriage is we need to know why marriage exists.
1- WHY DOES MARRIAGE EXIST
Marriage exists for two major reasons:
- To signify a relationship between a man and a woman
- To create the best environment for a child to be raised in
Why must marriage require a man and a woman? The relationship between a man and a woman is like no other in the history of mankind. A man and a woman can create life together. Two men cannot create life and two women cannot create life. The advocates of gay marriage suggest that love is all that matters. If love was all that mattered, why are two men incapable of creating new life? Relationships are not completely separated from biology.
Why are a mother and father most suited to raising a child? The biological connection between a child and their parents is not to be understated. A child has a different bond to its parents than it does to two unrelated adults. We have seen this through nature and through scientific research. We have also concluded that evolution was right and that the biological mother and father will provide the most stable environment for a child to be raised in. Any other form of parentage is worse for the child than biological parents, with single mothers and lesbians couples being the least stable and least safe.
2- WHAT IS MARRIAGE
Now that we know why there is marriage, we can determine what marriage is.
Is marriage a bond of love? I love my grandmother. That is not marriage.
Is marriage a bond of love with a commitment to make things better? You can love your nephew and be committed to making life better for them. That is not marriage.
Is marriage the bond of love between a man and a woman and a commitment to make things better? You can love your sister and be committed to making things better for her. This is not marriage.
Marriage is the "union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners".
The union involves the physical relationship and the emotional relationship.
Man and woman are specified because children are not men or women and because of the natural implications discussed in WHY DOES MARRIAGE EXIST.
3- MARRIAGE CANNOT BE REDEFINED
This is a contentious point. Many advocates of gay marriage believe they can simply change the definition of marriage. This is preposterous. If you redefine the word "bachelor" to mean something other than "an unmarried man" then "bachelor" will no longer mean what "bachelor" was supposed to mean. Marriage is the word used to describe the union of a man and a woman. It is a definitional truth and cannot be changed.
If the word marriage cannot be redefined or undefined, what can? The thing that the word marriage refers to. If you redefine what the union between a man and a woman is you could change the result of what marriage is. Of the definition of marriage, the only word that could be defined differently is "union". You cannot replace the word "woman" with "man" or "man" with "woman" because the meaning of marriage will cease to be. If redefining "union", what could the meaning become? Nothing that could preserve the current meaning of marriage. Extending the definition may make marriage too narrow and broadening the definition could result in platonic relationships becoming marriage. None of this is optimal.
It should be clearer now that gay marriage cannot exist. Marriage cannot be redefined/undefined and still be marriage. Marriage cannot be between gay couples and still be marriage. The philosophical purpose of marriage matches well with the evolutionary truths of men and women. The state may pretend that gay couples can be married, but this is nothing more than a farce for political points and an attempt to grab voters for the next election.
If you are intellectually honest with yourself, you cannot acknowledge that gay marriage exists. It cannot exist.