Same-sex unions; 2004 essay

052604

"Same-sex couples and marriage," Phil Beaver, Saturday, Baton Rouge, LA, April 3, 2004.

            The Advocate, by publishing Thomas Sowell's "Confused thinking backs gay marriage," March 15, defended the American society and republic and offered help for homosexuals.

            Because homosexuality terminates lineage, society shouldn't approve it. Nevertheless, same-sex couples should be accommodated, without compromising society's responsibility to encourage people to achieve their fullest potentials.

            Webster's unabridged dictionary (1994) defines marriage, "the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife." Also, "husband" means, "a married man, especially considered in relation to his wife," and "wife" means, "a woman joined in marriage to a man." Since same-sex couples aren't man and woman, backing "same-sex marriage" would make "rhetoric more important than reality" (Sowell).

            For same-sex couples, the claim "man and woman" shuns reality; "husband and wife" shuns reality; "spouse" shuns reality; "father and mother" shuns reality. Applying such terms to same-sex couples is as unreal as asserting they defy gravity--fly like birds or drift like balloons. More pertinently, it's like claiming same-sex couples beget children. Not certifying same-sex marriage is not secondary civil classification; it's reality recognition.

            Society should encourage people to experience life to its fullest. Begetting children, challenging as that responsibility is, should not be denied anyone with the desire and means. Someone who encourages a person to be homosexual diminishes their potential fulfillment.

            Sowell didn't cite religion, and I don't either but express a [civic] view of Genesis. Abraham, tempted to sacrifice his son, illustrates that the coming generation with fresh ideas and creativity encourages the reluctant, older generation to make needed, revolutionary changes they imagined--to progress.

            Abraham left his homeland, Ur, with family and servants to create a new life without human sacrifices after annual harvest. His father, Terah, supported the idea and also went but died on the way. Later, as the head of the tribe, suffering huge financial and human losses in Canaan, Abraham feared he must have been wrong and decided to sacrifice his son.

            Tied to an altar made of kindling and under the knife Abraham raised for the kill, the frantic son screamed, "Dad, this will not be a sacrifice; it will be murder! You are correct:  human sacrifice is wrong." Wisely, Abraham listened to his son.  A servant's son wouldn't have known the background and how to appeal to Abraham.

            Often, lessons from children enrich parents' lives. No one should be encouraged to accept a lifestyle that prevents such enrichment. Thus, I think a society that encourages people to be homosexual is wrong.

            Nevertheless, some people, for private reasons, want to form same-sex unions. I think society should not burden them and provide adequate same-sex laws without compromising marriage.