Conservatives Committed to Traditional Marriage

Ft. Hamilton Station, NY – Governor Eliot Spitzer's bill to legalize same-sex marriage will be introduced this week even though he has publicly stated that he believes it will not pass. We believe that his bill for same-sex marriage is a nothing more than a smoke screen to bring about passage of a bill for civil unions in New York State. Civil unions will not end the debate; rather it will strengthen the case for gay marriage. The following memo has been distributed to all the Members of the Legislature to strengthen the case for keeping marriage between one man and one woman. The memo follows:

Recent polling seems to indicate that the populous is not as opposed to civil unions as they are to gay marriages and are beginning to believe that civil unions could be the middle ground to end the debate on the issue of gay marriage.

Civil Unions will not end the debate; rather it will strengthen the case for gay marriage.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) website "Civil Unions are different from marriage, and that difference has wide-ranging implications that make the two institutions unequal." GLAD states that "civil marriage, and not civil unions, is the only way to make sure gay and lesbian couples have all the same legal protections as other married couples."

Why is the Conservative Party opposed to gay marriage and civil unions when conservatives believe in personal freedom, civil rights, and equality?

Simple, gay marriage and civil unions have demoralized traditional marriage, the very essence of the Judeo-Christian values that are the core beliefs of American society.

The Scandinavian Countries of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway legalized gay marriage and/or civil unions 15 years ago, so it is possible to analyze the effects over this period. Scholars have long considered Scandinavia as the bellwether of family change so to consider the effects of the gay movement there provides a valid understanding of what would happen in New York.

Sweden, a highly taxed welfare state has largely displaced the family as provider by guaranteeing jobs and income to every citizen. As the most secular country in the world, Sweden's public morality is no longer professed by clergy; rather by social scientists who see marriage as a barrier to full equality between the sexes. Rising out-of-wedlock birthrates is a result and that leads to the disassociation of heterosexual marriage from parenting. If heterosexual marriage is not necessary for parenting, gay marriage becomes more conceivable.

Sweden has been very successful in bringing this message to the remaining Scandinavian Countries and when clergy tried to stop the gay marriage movement, it was imposed, against the public will, by the political elite. Yet, gay marriage, in these same Countries is relatively low. Danish social theorist, Henning Bech, and Norwegian sociologist Rune Halvorsen attribute the low numbers of registered gay couples as a protest against the belief that monogamy would be expected and that was not the goal of the movement. The goal, according to Bech and Halvorsen, was social approval for homosexuality.

When we consider what GLAD states on its website regarding the "civil-rights" of the gay community and we analyze the results of 15 years of the gay marriage movement in Europe, only one conclusion is possible. The "civil-rights" issue that the gay community trumps in the media is not the real issue.

In America and New York, the issue is social approval for homosexuality, which is why marriage can only be defined as a contract between one man and one woman.
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