What Same-Sex Marriage Means to Me

I have been raised in a Christian family.  I attend church fairly regularly.  I believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.  I believe in the marriage of a man and a woman as stated in the bible.  I am also not against same-sex marriage.  In saying that I would like to clarify a few things.

1. Having same-sex marriage legalised will not change what I believe marriage to be.  It will not affect how I teach my child or what I practice religiously.  In my eyes marriage is always going to be different whatever your religion.  The LDS faith believes in eternal marriages while Anglicans believe in marriage till death.  There are two differing views on what a marriage is and that is because they are different religions.  I see this change as an extension of the differences in society today.  That does not mean that I will go out and do it.  It just means that I am not bothered by this change as long as it does not change how I am able to practice my religious beliefs. 

2. The institute of marriage is no longer the sacred symbol we see in the bible.  This is evident in the fact that there are so many broken marriages and infidelity.  My parents were divorced.  I was divorced.  More than half of all marriages in the USA end in divorce.  That to me shows me that marriage between a man and woman is not always going to work out and it is far from being perfect.  I don’t see why so many of us are up in arms about marriage being destroyed by same-sex couples when heterosexual couples are already doing a great job at destroying its meaning already.

3. I have read stories of children being adversely affected by same-sex marriages.  Today we are stricken with single parent home, incest, child abuse, spousal abuse, infidelity, neglect and the list goes on.  Being a product of a divorced family has impacted me psychologically, financially and in other ways, yet I am the result of a heterosexual marriage, surely that means I should be perfect and problem free.  The way we raise our families and how our children are brought up is a result of the parenting skills and partly the environment we grow up in.  There is no direct evidence that shows a child is going to grow up any worse being raised by two men in a loving relationship as opposed to a man and woman in a loving relationship.  Parenting skills have nothing to do with your sexual orientation.

To me same-sex marriage means that people still believe that marriage is sacred, if they didn’t they wouldn’t fight so hard for it.  People still believe that marriage is a commitment that is to be taken seriously and they still want to do it.  I may not agree with homosexuality, but I don’t have to.  What I do need to believe in is people loving each other and being kind to each other regardless of their differences.  What I choose to believe in is respect for everyone, even if I don’t agree with the God they choose to worship, not believing in a God or who they choose to love.  It also means that I am not forcing my beliefs on you, it is your personal decision, but I would like to know what same-sex marriage means to you?