dcnovice
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Birk: Same-sex unions may not affect my marriage specifically, but it will affect my children -- the next generation. Ideas have consequences, and laws shape culture. Marriage redefinition will affect the broader well-being of children and the welfare of society.
Yes, children will grow up with examples of committed, loving, same-sex couples, some of whom tenderly and skillfully rear families. IMHO, that's a good thing.
Birk: People who are simply acknowledging the basic reality of marriage between one man and one woman are being labeled as "bigots" and "homophobic."
Two thoughts:
(a) Birk's "basic reality of marriage" doesn't hold true for all times and places. For much of history, marriage could include more than two people, and I believe that remains the case in some places today. Even one-man-one-woman marriage, moreover, has evolved, from a largely economic arrangement in which the woman was chattel to a loving relationship between equals. The idea of a single, timeless "definition" of marriage is a mirage.
(b) Writing in the New York Times, longtime traditional-marriage advocate David Blankenhorn noted, "And to my deep regret, much of the opposition to gay marriage seems to stem, at least in part, from an underlying anti-gay animus. To me, a Southerner by birth whose formative moral experience was the civil rights movement, this fact is profoundly disturbing." As for yours truly, I might be less inclined to equate opposition to marriage equality with homophobia if those who spend considerable time, energy, and money opposing same-sex marriage would identify another reason for doing so.
Birk: There is no opposition between providing basic human rights to everyone and preserving marriage as the sacred union of one man and one woman.
Birk seems unaware of the Supreme Court's unanimous finding in Loving v. Virginia that "Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival."
_____________________________
No matter how cynical you become,
it's never enough to keep up.
JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF
INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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RE: NFL's Matt Birk: Let's protect marriage and speech - 
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