Voters should protect marriage

By KAREN JO GOUNAUD

Guest columnist

Guest columnist David R. Gillespie on April 21 addressed what is perhaps the most important issue of the Nov. 7 election: the constitutional definition of marriage in South Carolina.

The meaning of that institution from the beginning of time has been “one man, one woman.” Unfortunately, the homosexual lobby has made considerable progress in recent years toward discounting that sacred definition. With the help of savvy marketing techniques, biased media, relentless legal manipulators and activist judges, the laws and culture have been radically changing. Consequently, more and more Americans now accept or excuse a virtual potpourri of sexual identities and behaviors that our nation once rejected and condemned.

Attacking traditional marriage has become the activists’ most important effort in this culture war. Because of all the misleading, inaccurate claims the public has accepted, it has become imperative for South Carolina to protect itself from this aggression in a special way: by creating and adopting the South Carolina Marriage Amendment.

South Carolina citizens can best prepare for this historical voting opportunity through objective fact-finding and respectful discussion. One of the finest reports available is an article by author Frank Turek called “Protecting America’s Immune System — A Reasonable Argument Against Homosexual Marriage.”

Mr. Turek warns against both homosexual marriage and civil unions. He calls traditional marriage “the national immune system that protects our civilization from destruction.” Anyone preparing seriously for the Nov. 7 vote should read his full report.

Here are some of his major points and arguments:

• “Traditional marriage is beneficial to the public welfare.” The majority of skilled, objective family analysts consider it the gold standard for raising children. It results in lower rates for poverty, suicide and crime while bringing better health conditions. It also lowers government welfare costs and makes men more focused and responsible. It provides women, especially mothers, with more security, improves the life span of both spouses and “encourages an adequate replacement birth rate.”

• “Homosexual behavior is destructive to the public welfare” by increasing health problems among those practicing homosexual sex, shortening the median life span by 20 years to 30 years, spreading disease to innocent people and costing Americans millions of dollars in higher medical insurance premiums.

• Legalization of homosexual marriage also leads to more destructive attitudes toward traditional marriage and parenting. For example, in Norway, after a decade of legalized homosexual marriage, “out of wedlock births have soared (to)... nearly 70 percent of all children.” “When the entry standards for marriage are weakened to include same-sex couples,” says Turek, “marriage and child-bearing will just be considered incidental.”

Closer to home, Massachusetts’ homosexual marriages have a shorter history, but the results are already provocative. For example, concerned second-grade public school parents in Lexington were recently told that because of Massachusetts’ legalization of homosexual marriage, children’s gay advocacy books like King and King (where the prince marries another prince) are required classroom reading.

Even more disturbing, Catholic Charities of Boston, “one of the nation’s oldest adoption agencies (specializing) in finding good homes for hard-to-place kids,” had to shut down because it could not in good conscience place kids with homosexual couples as it was now required to do for a state license. That requirement is also contrary to the constitutional principles of religious liberty.

Activist Massachusetts judges and weak legislators have proven that only the power of a state constitutional amendment, perhaps even a federal marriage amendment, can keep the Massachusetts story from repeating itself here.

Traditional marriage is America’s, and South Carolina’s, immune system. Without the structure and strength of true marriage, and the civilized family and community life that flows from it, the fabric of our civilization is in danger of being destroyed.

Strong traditional families still exist across America, but they need help. The marriage amendment is essential to give that help to the children and families of South Carolina.

Ms. Gounaud is the founder and past president of Family Friendly Libraries. She is a Christian musician and writer in Columbia.