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    Why Not Gay Marriage

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    ARTUROAMOR
    This document provides 10 persuasive answers to the question of why not allow gay marriage. It summarizes research showing children do best with married biological parents and that same-sex parenting amounts to an untested social experiment on children. It argues that gender matters and that children need a mother and father. While organizations claim research supports same-sex parenting, the document argues the research is inconclusive as it is just beginning and lacks long-term studies or comparisons. Ultimately, it concludes that marriage is about more than adult wants and is not just about the couple, but also provides benefits to children and society.

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    Why Not Gay Marriage

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    ARTUROAMOR
    47 views72 pages
    This document provides 10 persuasive answers to the question of why not allow gay marriage. It summarizes research showing children do best with married biological parents and that same-sex parenting amounts to an untested social experiment on children. It argues that gender matters and that children need a mother and father. While organizations claim research supports same-sex parenting, the document argues the research is inconclusive as it is just beginning and lacks long-term studies or comparisons. Ultimately, it concludes that marriage is about more than adult wants and is not just about the couple, but also provides benefits to children and society.

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    PROBLEMS WITH G MARRIAGE

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    This document provides 10 persuasive answers to the question of why not allow gay marriage. It summarizes research showing children do best with married biological parents and that same-sex parenting amounts to an untested social experiment on children. It argues that gender matters and that children need a mother and father. While organizations claim research supports same-sex parenting, the document argues the research is inconclusive as it is just beginning and lacks long-term studies or comparisons. Ultimately, it concludes that marriage is about more than adult wants and is not just about the couple, but also provides benefits to children and society.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    47 views72 pages

    Why Not Gay Marriage

    Uploaded by

    ARTUROAMOR
    This document provides 10 persuasive answers to the question of why not allow gay marriage. It summarizes research showing children do best with married biological parents and that same-sex parenting amounts to an untested social experiment on children. It argues that gender matters and that children need a mother and father. While organizations claim research supports same-sex parenting, the document argues the research is inconclusive as it is just beginning and lacks long-term studies or comparisons. Ultimately, it concludes that marriage is about more than adult wants and is not just about the couple, but also provides benefits to children and society.

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    You are on page 1of 72

    Ten

    persuasive

    answers
    to the

    question

    why not

    gay
    marriage?
    by Glenn T. Stanton
    Senior Analyst for Marriage and Sexuality
    Director of Social Research and Cultural Affairs
    Focus on the Family

    Were not going to win at the ballot box until we


    start winning at the water cooler and in the
    church pews.
    Stephen Fisher, communications director of the Human Rights Campaign,
    in Time, December 20, 2004.

    Question #1

    How Will My Same-Sex


    Marriage Hurt Your Marriage?

    If this were only about


    your family

    My son and daughters


    are essential
    for their families!

    Question #2

    Is Same-Sex Marriage Like


    Inter-racial Marriage?

    NO!
    Racism is about keeping races apart
    and that is wrong.
    Marriage is about bringing the
    genders together and that is good.

    Interracial marriage affirms


    marriage!

    Same-sex marriage redefines


    marriage!

    Marriage has nothing to do with


    race.
    Marriage has everything to do with
    bringing men and women together!

    Does any data say


    this is harmful?

    but thousands of
    studies show
    intentionally
    motherless and
    fatherless homes
    are harmful.

    Question #3

    Where Does It Stop?

    Andrew Sullivan says, The right to marry


    whomever you want is a fundamental civil
    right.
    What about Cody Rogahn and Jonathan
    Yarbrough?

    As Cheryl Jacques, formerly of Human


    Rights Campaign, says
    Because I don't approve of that.

    CNN Crossfire (February 24, 2004), Transcript #022401CN.V20.

    Full Acceptance Will Be Mandatory!

    Speech Control Is Next!


    Swedish Pastor threatened with jail

    Canadian activists successfully passed C-250


    Children need a mom and dad = Hate Speech?

    Governor Romney is denigrating gay families,


    practicing divisive, mean-spirited politicsby
    insisting that every child has a right to a mother
    and a father.
    Not fair, governor, The Boston Globe, March 3, 2005

    Whats in Store for School Children


    Heather has Two Mommies in K-12
    Pictures and storylines in text books change
    Boston 8th graders get explicit sex charts

    Ms. Allen, an 8th-grade teacher, explains lesbian sex to


    her students thoroughly and explicitly with a chart.
    Her response to parents complaints?
    Give me a break. Its legal now.
    Melissa Block and Tovia Smith, Massachusetts Schools Weigh Gay Topics, National Public
    Radio (NPR), September 13, 2004.

    Impact on Religious Freedom...

    Activists will pressure churches to perform samesex weddings.

    Question #4

    Cant Some People Have


    Religious Marriage and Others
    Have Civil Marriage?

    Marriage Precedes
    and Exceeds
    the Church and the State

    The Public Purpose of Marriage


    There is scarcely a dollar that state and
    federal government spends on social programs
    that is not driven in large part by family
    fragmentation: crime, poverty, drug abuse,
    teen pregnancy, school failure, mental and
    physical health problems.
    Maggie Gallagher
    Leading Thinker and Writer on Marriage

    Maggie Gallagher, The Stakes: Why We Need Marriage, National Review Online, July 14, 2003.

    Question #5

    Does Marriage Provide


    a Common Good?

    Spin a globe

    Why do we find this universally?


    Who enforces it?

    Every culture
    needs marriage
    No culture needs
    same-sex marriage

    4 Primary Jobs of Marriage


    1) Socializes men
    2) Regulates sexuality
    3) Protects women
    4) Provides a mom and a dad

    4 Primary Jobs of Marriage


    1) Socializes Men
    Marriage links men to women

    4 Primary Jobs of Marriage


    2) Regulates sexuality

    Every ongoing society must have


    standards for sexual behavior

    4 Primary Jobs of Marriage


    3) Protects women

    A societys most serious problem


    is the unattached male.

    4 Primary Jobs of Marriage


    4) Provides a mom and a dad

    This is needed in every society

    Every society must


    encourage marriage
    makes men productive
    regulates sexuality
    protects women
    gives children a mom and dad

    Question #6

    Is it Healthy to Put
    Children in
    Experimental Families?

    No society at any time,


    primitive or developed
    ancient or modern
    has ever raised a generation of
    children in same-sex homes.

    Same-sex marriage
    is a vast, untested
    social experiment on children.

    From the Lesbian Parenting


    Book
    Our children are not the only
    ones who may find themselves in
    uncharted territory....
    it can be exhilarating and
    sometimes scary to be painting
    a new and different lesbian
    family tree
    Source: D. Merilee Clunis and G. Dorsey Green, The
    Lesbian Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families
    and Raising Kids, 2nd ed. (New York: Seal Press, 2003),
    p. 60.

    Our children are not the only


    ones who may find themselves in
    uncharted territory....
    it can be exhilarating and
    sometimes scary to be painting
    a new and different lesbian
    family tree
    Source: D. Merilee Clunis and G. Dorsey Green, The
    Lesbian Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families
    and Raising Kids, 2nd ed. (New York: Seal Press, 2003),
    p. 60.

    It will be interesting to
    see over time whether
    lesbian sons have an
    easier or harder time
    developing their gender
    identity than do boys with
    live-in fathers.

    Source: D. Merilee Clunis and G. Dorsey Green, The Lesbian


    Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families and Raising Kids,
    2nd ed. (New York: Seal Press, 2003), p. 243.

    But the same-sex family


    warning label reads
    it will be interesting to see.

    Question #7

    But Havent Medical and


    Psychological Groups
    Said Same-Sex
    Parenting is Fine?

    From the

    American Academy of Pediatrics

    there is a considerable body of professional literature that


    suggests children with parents who are homosexual have the
    same advantages and the same expectations for health,
    adjustment and development as children whose parents are
    heterosexual.
    http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/febsamesex.htm

    How did the AAP come to


    this decision?

    AAP Membership Response


    The AAP has received more messages almost all of
    them CRITICAL from members about the (same-sex
    parenting) statement than it has EVER received on any
    other topic...This is a serious problem as it means it will
    become harder to continue the work we have been doing to
    use the AAP as a vehicle for positive change.

    (email to select AAP members from Ellen Perrin, Feb. 15,


    2002, emphasis added)

    AAP Membership Response


    The AAP has received more messages almost all of them CRITICAL
    from members about the (same-sex parenting) statement than it has
    EVER received on any other topic...This is a serious problem as it
    means it will become harder to continue the work we have been doing
    to use the AAP as a vehicle for positive change.

    Science or activism?

    Professional organizations
    cannot make such statements!

    We have not had


    the experiment yet!

    Research exploring the


    diversity of parental
    relationships among gay
    and lesbian parents is
    just beginning.
    The small and nonrepresentative samples
    studied and the relatively
    young age of the children
    suggests some reserve.
    Ellen Perrin, Technical Report: Coparent and Second-Parent Adoption by
    Same-Sex Parents, Pediatrics, 109 (2002) 341-343.

    Regarding same-sex parenting

    Thus far, no work has


    compared childrens
    long-term achievement
    in education,
    occupation, income
    and other domains of
    life.
    Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz, (How) Does the Sexual Orientation
    of Parents Matter? American Sociological Review, 66 (2001) 159-183

    How can we conclude


    anything
    when the research
    is just beginning?

    Question #8

    How Do We Know What


    Kind of Families
    Children Need?

    Family experiments over


    the past 30 years have
    taught us a lot

    Heres What We Know

    Thus, it is not simply the presence of


    two parents, as some have assumed,
    but the presence of two biological parents
    that seems to support child development.
    Child Trends Research Brief, June 2002, p. 1.

    Heres What We Know

    Most researchers now agree


    that together these studies support the notion that,
    on average, children do best when raised by their two
    married, biological parents
    Center for Law and Social Policy, May 2003, p. 1

    The Research is Clear


    Same-sex families are less
    than best because they deny
    children their mother or father.

    Question #9

    Is the Same-Sex Family


    About the Needs of Children
    or the Wants of Adults?

    Lessons from the


    Worlds Most Famous Lesbian Mom

    because Im the
    kind of mommy who
    wants another mommy.
    Diane Sawyer (Anchor), Rosies Story: For the Sake of the Children: Rosie
    ODonnells Crusade on Behalf of Gay Parents Seeking to Adopt Children, ABC
    News: Primetime, (March 14, 2004).

    Parker has never asked:


    Momma, why cant we have all the
    rights and protections of marriage?

    But he has asked,


    Mommy, why cant I have a daddy?

    Similarities in Same-Sex
    and Divorce Revolution
    We embarked on a
    gigantic social
    experiment without
    any idea about how
    the next generation
    would be affected

    Judith Wallerstein, et al., The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce:


    A 25 Year Landmark Study, (Hyperion, 2000), p. xxii.

    If the truth be told, and


    if we are able to face it, the
    history of divorce in our
    society is replete with
    unwarranted assumptions
    that adults have made
    about children simply
    because such assumptions
    are congenial to adult
    needs and wishes.
    Judith Wallerstein, et al., The Unexpected Legacy of
    Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study, (Hyperion, 2000), p.
    xxii.

    How different is
    Rosie than the
    man who seeks
    a trophy wife?

    No society anywhere
    has been able to sustain itself with
    a buffet-like mentality to family.

    Question #10

    Does Gender Really Matter?

    Same-sex marriage advocates have


    a Mr. Potato Head view of
    humanity.

    male, female
    mother, father
    husband, wife
    are NOT merely preferences!

    This is a very anti-human view


    of humanity

    The two most loving moms


    cannot be a daddy
    to a little boy or a little girl!

    The two most loving dads


    cannot be a momma
    to a little boy or a little girl!

    Children need a whole lot more


    than love from any two adults.

    Conclusions
    Marriage is not just about the couple
    Children should not be subject to
    experimental families
    Research does not support
    same-sex families

    Conclusions
    Families that reject male or female are not
    good families.
    There is no logical stopping point
    Society needs natural marriage; it has no
    need for same-sex marriage!

    Recommended Resources

    Available through Focus on the Family


    (1-800-A-FAMILY)

    Other research and articles at:


    www.focusonsocialissues.org

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