Are Proponents of Homosexual 'Marriage' Afraid of the Truth?(Withdraw from Public Debate)

The head of the Family Research Council says pro-homosexual forces do not want the public to hear all the details of the dangers of homosexual "marriage" -- and that that fear of the truth was evident Monday night in Boston.

The Ames Courtroom in the Harvard Law School was to be the site of a debate on homosexual marriage last night, but advocates of homosexual marriage backed out. Scheduled to appear on behalf of pro-homosexual advocates were Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, and Mary Bonauto of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and legal scholar Hadley Arkes were to take the pro-family side of the debate.

Tony Perkins Perkins says the pro-homosexual side had good reason to avoid the event. "I think there's an understanding that the more this issue is debated in the public, the more the public becomes opposed to the concept of same-sex marriage," the FRC head says. "So I think there's now an avoidance -- just as they originally did, by going through the courts and not the legislative process -- to try and keep this issue from being discussed publicly."

Perkins' group reports that Jacques and Bonauto pulled out of the debate, citing the need to concentrate solely on Wednesday's vote in the Massachusetts legislature as that body decides how it will respond to the state's Supreme Judicial Court decision that homosexual marriage must be legalized. The pro-family spokesman says the fact that "the other side" does not feel assured of a victory on Wednesday and is continuing to lobby up until the last moment indicates just how unpredictable that vote will be.

Nevertheless, the event on the Harvard campus was held as scheduled, and the standing-room-only audience of more than 300 -- which consisted predominantly college-age young people -- had the chance to challenge pro-family advocates with more than two hours of questions. And despite the absence of Jacques and Bonauto, it was a lively evening as the audience interacted with Perkins and Arkes following their presentations.

"We're in a place [Harvard University] where this type of thought that led to this court decision is embraced," Perkins says. "But yet there seemed to be a very balanced perspective."

In an attempt to ensure the pro-family perspective on homosexual marriage is before the public, FRC last week launched a series of newspaper ads and radio spots calling on the Massachusetts legislature to support the Marriage Affirmation and Protection Amendment (MA & PA). That amendment would allow the citizens of Massachusetts -- not un-elected judges -- to decide the definition of marriage. Perkins says the only way those citizens can "wrestle back their power" from the Supreme Judicial Court is through approval of the MA & PA amendment.

Virginia Resolution While the dispute over homosexual marriage comes to a head in Massachusetts, lawmakers on Capitol Hill -- many of whom face re-election challenges this November -- ponder their stance on the question of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit marriage to the traditional, Bible-based definition: one man and one woman. In light of the ruling by the Massachusetts high court, pro-family groups are saying it is more important than ever for Congress to call for such an amendment.

Toward that end, the Virginia state legislature is preparing to vote on a resolution urging Congress to do just that. One Virginia-based pro-family group is urging its legislators to pass that resolution to let elected officials in Washington know that the Commonwealth of Virginia supports traditional marriage.

"This vote on the federal marriage amendment will give our elected officials an opportunity to show where they stand on the issue of marriage," says Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation of Virginia. "And it will allow Congress to see that Virginia will stand behind them and, hopefully, ratify a federal marriage amendment if they put one forward in Congress."

Cobb says because of last year's accomplishments, some members of the state's General Assembly may be thinking that pro-family Virginians will not challenge what they do. She says they couldn't be more wrong.

Should Congress approve a federal marriage amendment, it would have to be ratified by three-fourths (38) of the states before it could be enacted. Earlier this week, Ohio became the 38th state in the union to sign into law a Defense of Marriage Act. The remaining 12 without a DOMA law are Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Thanks for the post. I am a traditionalist and side with the taditional definition of marriage.

That said, I wish that the pro-family groups were more consistent with regard to the divorce rate among so-called Christians, the use of artificial contraception, and cohabitation, none of which is pro-family.

I understand that the gay marriage is the issue du jour and calls for an organized, pressing response. But until the Christian community comes to term with the role that it has played in looking the other way when it came to heterosexual couples and how that opened the door to acceptance of homosexuality, I'm afraid that the higher moral ground which we are supposed to claim will ring hollow.

Dominus vobiscum.

2 posted on 02/10/2004 11:05:32 AM PST by TradicalRC (While the wicked stand confounded, Call me, with thy saints surrounded. -The Boondock Saints)

Homosexual Agenda Ping.

There are many articles lately about homosexuality, what with the "gay" marriage issue being forced, foisted, rammed and crammed. Don't let it faze you. Read my vanity article and add your ideas!

Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.

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