Gay Marriage | OrthodoxNet.com Blog

Same-Sex Marriage Judge Finds That a Child Has Neither a Need Nor a Right to a Mother

August 10, 2010

Judge Vaughn R. Walker

8/9/2010 – Terence P. Jeffrey -

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that a child does not need and has no right to a mother.

Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.

“Children do not need to be raised by a male parent and a female parent to be well-adjusted, and having both a male and a female parent does not increase the likelihood that a child will be well-adjusted,” the judge wrote in finding of fact No. 71 in his opinion. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture war, Gay marriage, Homosexual Indoctrination

A Secular Argument Against Gay Marriage

August 5, 2010

Over at “The Observer“, the popular American Orthodox Institute Blog, Fr. Johannes Jacobse has posted some insightful observations in regards to the “gay marriage” issue. He correctly emphasizes that: “Christianity properly understood makes no distinction between wisdom found outside of the Church from that found within it.”

8/5/2010 – Fr. Johannes Jacobse -

From: Gay Marriage — and Marriage by Sam Shulman.

To me, what is at stake in this debate is not only the potential unhappiness of children, grave as that is; it is our ability to maintain the most basic components of our humanity. I believe, in fact, that we are at an “Antigone moment.” Some of our fellow citizens wish to impose a radically new understanding upon laws and institutions that are both very old and fundamental to our organization as individuals and as a society. As Antigone said to Creon, we are being asked to tamper with “unwritten and unfailing laws, not of now, nor of yesterday; they always live, and no one knows their origin in time.” I suspect, moreover, that everyone knows this is the case, and that, paradoxically, this very awareness of just how much is at stake is what may have induced, in defenders of those same “unwritten and unfailing laws,” a kind of paralysis.

By secular Shulman means non-religious, but Christianity properly understood makes no distinction between wisdom found outside of the Church from that found within it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture war, Gay marriage, Orthodox Christianity

Judging Marriage, Proposition 8 Struck Down

August 5, 2010

One gay judge invalidates 7,000,000 voters in California.

Chuck Colson

8/5/2010 – Chuck Colson -

Yesterday, federal district court Judge Vaughn Walker, a Reagan appointee, overturned California’s Proposition 8, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

While the immediate impact is limited to the state of California, the consequences of this egregious bit of judicial overreach threatens to be nationwide.

Two years ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the state constitution. In response, supporters of traditional marriage followed California’s legal and democratic process: They collected enough signatures to put a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christian Persecution, Culture war, Gay marriage, Homosexual Indoctrination, Moral issues

An Independent Witness to Marriage

July 16, 2010

7/16/2010 – Stuart Koehl -

In the pending court case for overturning California’s Proposition 8, which banned “gay marriage,” two leading conservative legal scholars face off: Charles J. Cooper, taking the classical conservative line that organic social institutions such as marriage have an inherent value and cannot be redefined by legal fiat, and Theodore Olson, taking the more libertarian line that government should simply regulate contractual relationships between individuals and not become involved in private matters. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture war, Gay marriage, Moral issues, Religion in America

Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic Senate Nominee, Supports Homosexual Marriage

July 8, 2010

Alexi Giannoulias

7/8/2010 – Fr. Johannes Jacobse -

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Democratic nominee for US Senator, [and member of the Greek Orthodox Church] supports homosexual marriage. Here’s the introduction from the Greek Star (a Chicago newspaper with Greek readership):

Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic nominee for US Senator, shares why he supports the freedom to marry for all, including people of the same sex. This is something that many of his supporters, and especially Greek-Americans may be opposed to. The Greek-American politician chose to be honest and he should be given credit for being brave to state his opinion on a difficult subject. He stated, “There may be many individuals that may not be happy with my particular stance”. The Greek Orthodox church does not allow, or support, same sex marriage. Giannoulias in the video continues “To me faith has always been less about how you treat God and more about how you treat people.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Gay marriage, Leftism, Orthodox Church, Politics

Abortion, Gay ‘Marriage’ among the Most ‘Insidious and Dangerous’ Challenges: Pope

May 17, 2010

5/15/2010 – Hilary White -

In an address to assembled social and pastoral care workers in Fatima, Portugal yesterday, Pope Benedict identified abortion and the pressure for gay “marriage” as among the most “insidious and dangerous challenges that today confront the common good,” and expressed his “deep appreciation” for those who fight for the rights of the unborn.

Benedict hailed “all those social and pastoral initiatives” that combat the “socio-economic and cultural mechanisms which lead to abortion, and are openly concerned to defend life and to promote the reconciliation and healing of those harmed by the tragedy of abortion.”

These “initiatives aimed at protecting the essential and primary values of life, beginning at conception, and of the family based on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, help to respond to some of today’s most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anti-Abortion, Culture war, Gay marriage, Roman Catholic

Civil Unions, Stepping Stones That Undermine Marriage

April 13, 2010

by Chris Banescu | 4/13/2010

Some Orthodox leaders and scholars have argued that same-sex civil unions, while not recognized and blessed by the Orthodox Church, should nevertheless be accepted and protected by the state in the spirit of democracy. In a 2005 interview regarding debates about gay couples being able to marry, Metropolitan Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, expressed his views on this matter:

“They [homosexuals] should have the benefits and civil rights of the state, but this is not a sacramental union our church will ever sanctify,” he said. “But civil marriage, in the spirit of American democracy, they have the right to ask for that.”

These positions seem to present a fair and reasonable perspective that maintains a balance between the Orthodox Church’s unwavering support for traditional marriage and her absolute rejection of all homosexual unions, and the secular and democratic society we live in. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christian Persecution, Gay marriage, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic

Five Myths About Same Sex Marriage

March 9, 2010

Townhall | by Janice Shaw Crouse | 3/9/2010

March 9, 2010, is the first day that same-sex couples in District of Columbia (D.C.) will be able to have legal marriage ceremonies. More than 100 couples — some coming from nearby states — have licenses for ceremonies. So-called same-sex “marriages” are legal in five other states — Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont — where the words “bride and groom” are replaced with the names of the individuals, who are each called “spouse” or “Person A” and “Person B.”

Those who oppose same-sex “marriage” are called by derogatory labels: bigot, narrow-minded, hate-filled among the nicest. Such name-calling obscures the very real problems associated with watering down and denigrating traditional marriage. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Gay marriage, Homosexual Indoctrination, Moral issues

Domestic Disturbances

January 5, 2010

Touchstone | by Patrick F. Fagan | Jan. 5, 2010

The Rising Polyamorous Culture Is Out to Get Your Children

The culture of the traditional family is now in intense competition with a very different culture. The defining difference between the two is the sexual ideal each embraces. The traditional family of Western civilization is based on lifelong monogamy. The competing culture is “polyamorous,” normally a serial polygamy, but also increasingly polymorphous in its different sexual expressions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture war, Family, Gay marriage, Moral issues

Miss Calif. Featured in Ad Warning About ‘Gay Marriage’ Consequences

May 1, 2009

Christian Examiner | Michael Foust | May 1, 2009

With the assistance of Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, a leading conservative group launched a television ad April 30 saying the criticism the beauty contestant has received is symbolic of what will happen to religious freedoms if the nation legalizes “gay marriage.”

Nom, a leading conservative group, launched a television ad saying the criticism the beauty contestant received is symbolic of what will happen to religious freedoms if the nation legalizes “gay marriage.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christian Bashing, Christian Persecution, Culture war, Gay marriage, Homosexual Indoctrination

The Great Myth

January 29, 2009

BreakPoint | Allan Dobras | Jan. 7, 2009

A December issue of Newsweek featured a cover story entitled “Our Mutual Joy” that purported to offer a “religious case” for gay “marriage.” Author Lisa Miller claimed, “Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.” Really?

It is interesting that apologists for the homosexual lifestyle typically say, on the one hand, that religious conservatives don’t really understand Scripture; if they did, they would see that there is no prohibition against homosexual love or marriage. On the other hand, they tell us the Bible is not to be trusted as a modern-day commentary when it speaks on moral issues—particularly sexuality. As Miller put it, “the Bible is a living document, powerful for more than 2000 years because its truths speak to us even as we change through history. In that light, Scriptures give us no good reason why gays and lesbians should not be married.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Family, Gay marriage

Turning the Bible on its Head, Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage

December 11, 2008

AlbertMohler.com | Albert Mohler | Dec. 8, 2008

Newsweek magazine, one of the most influential news magazines in America, has decided to come out for same-sex marriage in a big way, and to do so by means of a biblical and theological argument. In its cover story for this week, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller offers a revisionist argument for the acceptance of same-sex marriage. It is fair to say that Newsweek has gone for broke on this question.

Miller begins with a lengthy dismissal of the Bible’s relevance to the question of marriage in the first place. “Let’s try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does,” Miller suggests. If so, she argues that readers will find a confusion of polygamy, strange marital practices, and worse. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christian Bashing, Culture war, Gay marriage

Moral Tradition and the Assault of Gay Activists

November 22, 2008

OrthodoxyToday.org | Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse | Nov. 24, 2008

It used to be that when the voters settled on something — even twice, the matter was decided. No more. Proposition 8, the bitterly fought constitutional amendment restricting marriage to one man and one woman that squeaked by in California recently, needs to be “overturned” — or so the homosexual activists tell us.

Overturn a constitutional amendment? If judges can overturn the amendment, then effectively we have no constitution and we will be governed by the whims of a non-elected judiciary. Say goodbye to the constitutional republic. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gay marriage, Moral issues, Orthodox Christianity

False Equation: Opposing Same-Sex Marriage vs. Interracial Marriage

July 15, 2008

Townhall.com | Dennis Prager | July 15, 2008

The most effective of all morality-based arguments for same-sex marriage, the one that persuades more people than any other argument, is the one that equates opposition to same-sex marriage with the old opposition to interracial marriage.

The argument, repeated so often that it sounds incontestable, is this: Just as parts of American society once had immoral laws that forbade whites and blacks from marrying, so, today, society continues to have immoral laws forbidding men from marrying men and women from marrying women. And just as decent people overthrew the former, decent people must overthrow the latter. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture war, Family, Gay marriage

‘Gay’ rights group to Supremes: Don’t let people vote

July 3, 2008

WorldNetDaily | Jun 30, 2008

Homosexual-rights advocates have asked California’s Supreme Court to block citizens from voting this fall on a measure voters originally brought to the ballot: Proposition 8, the California Marriage Protection Act.

Proposition 8, so labeled when Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified it earlier this month for placement on the Nov. 4 ballot, is a constitutional amendment that states, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The amendment was created by voter initiative with the signatures of 1.1 million voters, more than the required 694,354 needed to place an issue on the ballot. [Read more...]