Far from banning gay marriage, Oklahoma legislators should legalize it.
A bill proposed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives by Rep. Bill Graves would prohibit both gay marriage and same-sex civil unions. Not only should this bill fail, but legislators should pass a bill to legalize gay marriage.
Some apocalyptic doomsayers argue that permitting gay marriage would destroy the institution of marriage and, with it, all of civilization.
Look around. Marriage, in the traditional (Christian) sense, has already been destroyed.
In 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that roughly 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce.
Heterosexuals seem to have done enough to destroy marriage by themselves.
Politicians are trying desperately to save marriage by lowering the divorce rate. Arizona is funding a $250,000 Marriage Mobile to cart marriage counselors to low-income neighborhoods. President Bush, in his State of the Union address, proposed a $1.5 billion healthy-marriage initiative to fund counseling and various marriage incentives.
Programs like these have not saved and will not save marriage. It"s not a lack of resources or access to counseling that has caused the disintegration of traditional marriage. It is, generally speaking, a lack of love.
Heterosexuals seem to have trouble finding someone to love, honor and cherish till death do they part. If homosexuals think they can do better, why should government prevent them?
If two people love each other enough to fight for the right to love each other, government has no business telling them they can"t love each other. By denying homosexuals the legal benefits afforded to married couples, that"s essentially what governments are doing.
Governments must either abolish the legal benefits of heterosexual marriage--and stop trying to save the institution of marriage--or they must establish their commitment to the institution of marriage by extending these benefits to same-sex couples.
Legalizing gay marriage may be the only way to save marriage itself.
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