COLUMN: Same-sex marriages don’t teach right and wrong
The debate over same-sex marriage has been an issue that is at the front of politics today. Even here at USU, we are inundated with same-sex couples in all of their glory. They claim such things as the fight for same sex-marriage is an issue of equality and that it is a right guaranteed to them by the constitution. This ideology is false and extremely destructive to the overall viability of the future of our constitutional republic.
Every consenting adult in America has the privilege, yea the right, to choose their sexual preference and not have it adversely affect their lives. In fact, the Constitution does guarantee that these individuals have the right to pursue, in any legal manner they choose, their particular brand of happiness. Government is not involved nor should it be.
This being said, it is not the heterosexual crowd or even the religious crowd that makes homosexuality an issue, it is the homosexuals themselves who have and continue to make their lifestyle an issue. Now that the issue is omnipresent we should discuss the ramifications it carries.
If the state were to recognize same-sex marriages, it would be recognizing a practice that mocks nature, to say nothing of morality. I believe that every person on earth is endowed with certain inalienable qualities; the ability to procreate, like breathing, is a function that is governed by natural law. It takes a male and a female to create life, period. Marriage, no matter what you believe originated as an institution that founded on this principle. Marriage is an inalienable institution given based on our powers of procreation; an institution protecting a natural law. For the state to recognize the antithesis of this institution by recognizing same sex marriage would undermine the basic building block of society and set the precedent that governing inalienable, natural law is nonexistent.
This would be the most detrimental blow to our Constitutional republic that has ever been seen. Our Constitution, indeed all of the free modern world, is based off the assumption that there are certain inalienable rights that one cannot be denied. These rights described by Jefferson as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are a natural law, a law based on nature or innate qualities. Thus, if a precedent is set divesting the state of a recognized natural law, they can and will disavow all other natural laws. Inevitably leading to an Orwellian society where marriage is no longer a natural right and neithere are any of the others Jefferson and his brethren so highly valued. The very fabric that holds our society together would be cast asunder.
This is the most serious of the problems facing the state recognition of same-sex marriage. There is another, however, worth discussing – the adoption of children. Often same-sex couples argue they cannot do any worse then incompetent heterosexual couples. I fundamentally disagree; even the worst heterosexual parents in the world have a foundation on which the principles of right and wrong could be taught. This foundation is the cornerstone of child rearing. Without it, one cannot teach a child socially acceptable behavior. Homosexuality, because it is based on the notion that good and evil is relative and therefore nonexistent, lacks this cornerstone. Try teaching an obstinate child that something he or she is doing is not acceptable behavior without conveying the idea that the child’s behavior is wrong. Same-sex couples, try as they might, cannot teach this. Thus they would have to allow self destructive behavior if the child can demonstrate his or her reliance on that behavior to get what she or he “feels” she wants.
Just imagine the implications of a world where right and wrong do not exist, only personal preference. Imagine a world where inalienable rights were no longer guaranteed or protected. This is the world we would live in if the state recognized same-sex marriages.
Jared Westbroek is a senior majoring in law and constitutional studies. Comments can be sent to jwestbroek@cc.usu.edu.