TAKING THE BLAME FOR MESSING UP MARRIAGE: Chris Crain

...Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey is only one example of a closeted homosexual who entered into marriage with a woman in a bid to meet the heterosexual expectations of faith, family and society.

True respect for marriage--from conservatives and from those who are questioning their sexual orientation--precludes misusing the institution as a lab experiment to see if sexual orientation is malleable after all.

...But the bad news is that we should take some of the blame for marriage's decline in popularity in Europe, and unless we're very careful, we'll risk the same fate here in the States.

In a number of Western European countries, most notably France, the public was not ready for full marriage equality for gay couples, so our advocates and allies pushed for something not unlike the civil unions enacted in Vermont.

But in the spirit of equality, these well-intentioned progressives opened up civil unions to heterosexual couples and they've signed up by the tens of thousands.

THE SAME PHENOMENON is already at work in the United States, but usually in the private sector and always around the availability of health insurance benefits.

Domestic partner benefits are now commonly available at many large corporations and from some local governments for their employees. Their original intention was to offer some recognition and assistance for long-term gay couples who cannot legally marry.

But as in Europe, well-meaning progressives have extended D.P. benefits in many cases to heterosexuals as well. And because most gay activists are left-leaning themselves, they have at times insisted that D.P. benefits be available without regard to the gender of the couple. ...

D.P. benefits and civil unions are only worthy goals if they are limited to gay couples and recognized as interim measures, to be dissolved on that happy day when we all can walk down that aisle.

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posted by Eve at 8:58 PM VOTE

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