Robert Knight of the American Civil Rights Union today railed against legislation in Maryland in a column, “Counterfeit Marriage is Anti-Religion,” arguing that marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples “violates the very essence of marriage.” According to Knight, legalizing same-sex marriage would do “incalculable” damage to religious freedom and would endanger the future of society because where “marriage is weak, devalued or redefined, communities fail.” “Whatever the expressed good intentions behind the same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation,” Knight writes, “creating a counterfeit and then forcing it down people’s throats is straight out of George Orwell’s Newspeak in 1984”:
Maryland’s proposed Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would legalize same-sex “marriage,” is not about tolerance.
It’s about using the law to force people to recognize a counterfeit as the real thing. In fact, it should more accurately be called the Attack on Religious Freedom Enabling Act.
That’s because this is about more than the feelings of any two people. When you declare a couple “married,” with the force of the law behind it, you bring everyone into it.
A brideless or groomless couple is not merely an addition to the marriage definition; it violates the very essence of marriage by excluding one or the other complementary sex.
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Marriage over the millennia on all continents has meant the uniting of male and female. Customs have varied, but sex is universally channeled into marriage to protect children and families — the lifeblood of communities. Where marriage is weak, devalued or redefined, communities fail.
Whatever the expressed good intentions behind the same-sex “marriage” legislation, creating a counterfeit and then forcing it down people’s throats is straight out of George Orwell’s Newspeak in 1984. Compassionate motives cannot mask the inevitable bad outcomes of a bad law.
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I urge legislators to consider that the drive to legally impose same-sex “marriage” is neither inevitable nor irreversible, despite the media’s blatantly biased treatment of this issue.
However, should Maryland take this step, the damage to freedom — particularly religious freedom — could be incalculable.
