In Their Own Words, Homosexual Activists Out to 'Debunk' Marriage, 'Transform' Family

by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
April 27, 2004

(AgapePress) - Several Christian-based law firms are intervening in three New York lawsuits in an effort to defend traditional marriage.

Last year, private citizens represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, and a private attorney filed lawsuits challenging New York laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. Now the Thomas More Law Center, Liberty Counsel, and the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy have intervened. Pat Gillen with the Thomas More Law Center says the institution of the family is in jeopardy.

"For a long time now, the history of Western civilization has privileged the union, the marriage of a man and a woman, as the fundamental unit of society, the basis for the family, and ultimately a healthy society," the attorney says. "What we have here is an effort to redefine marriage and, ultimately, the family -- and that will radically affect our society and its health and viability, in my opinion."

Those who may doubt Gillen's assertion may want to consider comments made by Paula Ettelbrick, a law professor and homosexual activist, who was quoted in an August 2003 article in The Weekly Standard.

"Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so," Ettelbrick stated. "Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family; and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society .... We must keep our eyes on the goals of providing true alternatives to marriage and of radically reordering society's view of reality."

And Michelangelo Signorile, writing in Out! magazine (December/January 1994), stated that homosexuals should " ... fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely .... To debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution .... The most subversive action lesbians and gays can undertake -- and one that would perhaps benefit all of society -- is to transform the notion of 'family' altogether."

Attorney Gillen says in addition to attacking the institutions of marriage and family, the effort to redefine marriage also goes contrary to the established approach for making law in America. "[Our] root objection is that this is a matter that should be determined by the people of the State of New York acting through their legislators," he explains. "That's the most fundamental point, that this is a vitally important point of public policy."

The Thomas More attorney maintains that when it comes to determining the type of relationship that should be privileged by the state for the purposes of the common good and for the good of society, it should be decided by the people -- "not [by] activist judges who are rewriting marriage law throughout the United States," he says.