GAY TRUTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. , March 14, 2013 ( Heritage Foundation ) - The media likes to present the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community as if they speak with one voice, as a monolithic group. But more and more members of that community are speaking out in defense of marriage —between a man and woman. Doug Mainwaring. Doug Mainwaring is one such advocate. An adoptive parent and openly gay man , he is perhaps the unlikeliest opponent of  redefining marriage . But his own experience as a parent revealed to him that children need a mom and a dad, and that marriage is ultimately about putting the needs of children before the desires of adults. In a  recent article  at  Public Discourse  titled “ I’m Gay and I Oppose Same-Sex Marriage ,” Mainwaring makes the bold claim that: To be fully formed, children need to be free to generously receive from and express affection to parents of both genders. Genderless marriages deny this fullness. Mainwaring reflected on

WASHINGTON, D.C. , March 5, 2013, ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – Although his critics mercilessly criticized him for changing his positions on a number of political issues, Mitt Romney says that he has not changed his mind on the definition of marriage. The 2012 Republican presidential candidate's fortitude on the issue comes as Beltway insiders in his party are pressing the grassroots to stifle its longstanding commitment to defend marriage. In his first post-election interview on  Fox News Sunday , Chris Wallace asked the former Massachusetts governor about the 80 Republicans – many of whom never held elective office – who signed an  amicus curiae  brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn restrictions on same-sex “marriage.” When asked if his views had “evolved at all” on redefining marriage, Mitt Romney replied, “No.” “I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman, and that's because I believe the ideal setting for raising a child is where

WASHINGTON, D.C. , March 1, 2013, ( Heritage Foundation ) - Some former officials in the Republican Party are urging the Supreme Court to  redefine marriage for the nation . But support for marriage as the union of a man and a woman is essential to American —and conservative—principles. Indeed, nothing could be less conservative than urging an activist court to redefine an essential institution of civil society . As my co-authors and I argue in our new book,  What Is Marriage? , and in the  amicus  brief we filed with the Supreme Court , marriage exists to bring a man and a woman together as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children their union produces. It is based on the anthropological truth that men and women are different and complementary, on the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and on the social reality that children need a mother and a father. Marriage has public purposes that transcend its private purposes. Marriage

Original Boy Scouts of America emblem (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) IRVING, TX , February 8, 2013, ( Heritage Foundation ) - The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced on Wednesday that it will postpone deciding whether to reverse its long-standing membership policy regarding open homosexuality. The decision will now take place at an annual meeting in May. The announcement  last week  of a potential policy change appeared to be in response, at least in part, to intense  outside pressure . For now, the Scouts have decided to stand strong, maintain their policy, and study the issue more carefully. For years, the BSA has been targeted for upholding traditional moral standards and belief in God. Since last summer, when it reaffirmed its membership policy regarding open homosexuality, the pressure has only intensified. Some have disparaged the policy as  intolerant  and  retrograde . Some  corporate   donors  stopped giving because of the Scouts’ position. But following the r

The United States Supreme Court. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) December 17, 2012 ( Breakpoint.org ) - The Supreme Court of the United States has announced that in the coming months, it will consider two cases that deal directly with the definition of marriage. The Court will take up the issue of Proposition 8, in which lower courts invalidated the will of the people of California to legally define marriage as being between one man and one woman. The court will also take up the case of the Defense of Marriage Act (or DOMA), which was passed with bipartisan support in 1996. But in 2011, President Obama instructed the Department of Justice not to defend DOMA in court. What all this means is that, on a legal level, 2013 will be a very important year for the institution of marriage as publicly defined in the United States of America . In fact, many, including Eric Teetsel of the Manhattan Declaration , are calling this the Roe v. Wade of marriage. It’s also, therefore, a very im

Until Tuesday, no state had redefined marriage by popular vote . Indeed, 32 out of 32 states that put the issue to a vote defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman. But in this week’s election, citizens in Maine , Maryland , and Washington State all passed ballot initiatives redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships. Meanwhile, citizens in Minnesota failed to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a man and woman. (It remains so defined, however, by statutory law.) But a little perspective on the setback is in order. The results were close, and marriage did better in these deep blue states than Mitt Romney did. Of the four states that had marriage questions on the ballot, traditional marriage outperformed the presidential candidate in each and every one: - In Maine,  Romney  received 41 percent of the vote, while  marriage  received 47 percent. - In Maryland,  Romney  received 36 percent of the vote, while  marriage  received 48 perc

Polygamy involves the marriage of more than two persons at the same time. It can take a number of forms. Some are: Polygyny: the marriage of one man with multiple wives. Polyandry: the marriage of one woman with multiple men. Polyamory: An umbrella term that describes a romantic and/or sexual relationship involving multiple partners at the same time. The participants may or may not consider themselves to be married to each other. During debates on the Federal Marriage Amendment in the U.S. and same-sex marriage in both Canada and the U.S. , many opponents to SSM have expressed the belief that if SSM were legalized, polygamy would inevitably follow. For example: Social commentator Stanley Kurtz argued that: "Among the likeliest effects of gay marriage is to take us down a slippery slope to legalized polygamy and 'polyamory' ( group marriage ). Marriage will be transformed into a variety of relationship contracts, linking two, three, or more individuals (however weak

Image via Wikipedia Is it time for the “marriage battleground” to shift to religious freedom ? That’s the question posed by a recent Christianity Today article in the wake of New York ’s approval of same-sex “marriage.”  According to University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock , the answer is “Yes.”  He says, “Religious conservatives who advocate traditional marriage must shift their focus to fighting for religious freedom.” That’s because Laycock and, sadly, many others mistakenly believe in the inevitability of same-sex “marriage.” They think that the best Christians can do now is make sure gay “marriage” laws at least provide a modicum of protection for the freedoms of those of us who believe in traditional marriage. Yes, same-sex “marriage,” so-called, poses a grave threat to religious freedom. There have already been cases where photographers and others have been sued for refusing to participate in same-sex “wedding” ceremonies.  Catholic Charities in several sta