Traditional Marriage Advocates Urged to Speak Up Now -- or Forever Hold Their Peace

by Rusty Pugh, Jody Brown, and Bill Fancher
February 19, 2004

(AgapePress) - Homosexual "marriage" in America, regardless of legislative and judicial decisions, may soon be fait accompli -- a thing accomplished and presumably irreversible. But there is a ray of hope: the president of a national pro-family ministry says more than one million people have voiced their support for traditional marriage by signing an online petition. And he says unless more people get involved in the battle against same-sex "marriage," it will be a reality in their state very soon.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that "civil unions" are not enough for homosexuals, that they must be given full and equal access to marriage rights. While lawmakers in that state deliberate an amendment to their constitution that would limit marriage to one man and one woman -- they are currently on recess until March 11 -- the date of May 17 sits ominously on the horizon. That is when homosexual marriages are slated to become legal in the Bay State.

Meanwhile, homosexual couples are flocking from around the country to San Francisco, where the mayor of that city last week authorized his county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Modified applications for those licenses have replaced the spaces for "Husband" and "Wife" to sign with spaces for "Applicant #1" and "Applicant #2." The San Francisco office that typically processes 25-30 marriage applications a day has handled almost 3,000 since last Thursday's mayoral proclamation.

Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, says because of the Full Faith and Credit clause in the U.S. Constitution, every other state in the country may be forced to accept the legalization of homosexual marriage. He says the time to act is now.

"I think people should weigh in right now with their own congressmen and senators and certainly with President Bush to support a federal marriage amendment to the United States Constitution," Wildmon says. "That is the answer to the problems we're seeing in Massachusetts and San Francisco: a federal marriage amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman."

Wildmon's group sponsors a website called NoGayMarriage.com, where more than one million individuals have registered their support for a federal amendment to protect the institution of marriage between one man and one woman. He is optimistic that number will continue to grow as people are hit with the reality of recent events in the Bay State and in the City by the Bay.

"The NoGayMarriage.com website is getting just overwhelming visits, and people are passing it along to their friends," the AFA president says. "We've gone over a million now, and I think it's going to be two million pretty quick because people are really bothered and upset about what's going on in this country."

According to the website, the petition and its signatories will be presented to leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate and to the president.

A Bad Environment
The Christian Medical & Dental Associations are voicing their concerns over the growing push to legalized homosexual marriage. Dr. Gene Rudd of the CMDA says his organization of Christian physicians does not believe same-sex unions are a good thing for society.

"We have a long tradition of upholding marriage between a man and a woman," Rudd says. "We know that scientific research shows that [to be] the best environment in which to bring up children, the best environment in which to protect our society, and the best environment to provide health safety for the individual."

The CMDA spokesman says homosexual behavior is contrary to the way the human body is made. "Physiologically and biologically, our anatomy does not accommodate that without significant health risk and trauma to tissues, and to diseases that are a consequence of that," he says. "We are not made for homosexual behavior."

Dr. Rudd says not all sexual attractions are good for society as a whole -- and homosexual attractions lead to a behavior that is fraught with health risks for those participants, and even those who are not involved in the risky behavior as well. He says it is not right for the unhealthy practices of a small minority to dictate societal changes.