16)says Article 16.
(1)Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2)Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.
(3)The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and
the State. Other articles make reference to “everyone has the right…” or “no one shall be…”, but here in Article 16 marriage is very clearly between men and women. The framers of the declaration saw no breach of human rights in talking of marriage as between “Men and women of full age”. Similarly, the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 12) reads:
Article 12. Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.
The issue of gay marriage has come before the
48 Reuters.com, 7 November 2012, see https://www.reuters. com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign- aymarriageidUSBRE8A60MG20121107 as at 23 November 2012
European Court of Human Rights on a number of occasions. In 2010 it ruled against a gay couple, Horst Schalk and Johann Kopf, who had brought a case because gay marriage was not legal in Austria.49 The UK Government intervened in the case, urging the Court to find in favour of Austria. The Court ruled that:
“…all other substantive Articles of the Convention grant rights and freedoms to ‘everyone’ or state that ‘no one’ is to be subjected to certain types of prohibited treatment. The choice of wording in Article 12 must thus be regarded as deliberate.”50 In the ruling, the court acknowledged that a same-sex couple has a right to a family life without interference from government, as set out in Article 8 of the Convention, but that still “does not impose an obligation on Contracting States to grant same- sex couples access to marriage”. 51 This finding, that gay
marriage is not a right found within the Convention, was recently repeated in a ruling on a separate case relating to a French lesbian couple who could not jointly adopt a child because gay marriage is not lawful in France. In March 2012 the Court ruled against the couple, referencing its earlier 2010 ruling about gay marriage. 52
49Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (2010), para. 45, see https:// cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbk m&action=html&highlight=30141/04&sessionid=8925298 6&skin=hudoc-en as at 22 March 2012
50Ibid, para. 55
51Ibid, para, 101
52Daily Mail, 21 March 2012
2 AN EQUALITY TOO FAR: TEN REASONS FOR THE DEFENCE OF TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE
One: it will undermine marriage evidence shows that redefining marriage actually undermines support for marriage in wider society. Neither has it delivered the promised stability for same-sex couples. In Spain, after gay
marriage was introduced, marriage rates across the whole population plummeted. 53 In the Netherlands too there has been a significant fall in the marriage rate since marriage was redefined. 54 Same-sex marriage does not promote marriage.
Two: marriage is part of our history and is between a man and a woman it is not a recent social invention, a trending topic. Everyone knows that marriage predates law, nation and church. It goes back to the dawn of time. Yes, matrimonial law may have been tweaked over the years, but the law has never fundamentally altered the essential nature of marriage: a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman. Same-sex marriage would rewrite hundreds of years of British legal tradition and thousands of years of cultural heritage.
Three: equality already exists! Same-sex couples already
have equality. All the legal rights of marriage are already available to same-sex couples through civil partnerships. Equality doesn’t mean bland uniformity or state-imposed sameness. If the Government genuinely wants to pursue equality, why is it banning heterosexual couples from entering a civil partnership? Same-sex couples have equal
rights through civil partnerships, but they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for everyone else.
Four: the impact on schools with the current law requiring schools to teach children about the importance of marriage. If marriage is given a new definition, it will be endorsed in schools and according to expert legal advice,
53Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Press Release, Vital Statistics and Basic Demographic Indicators:
Preview data for 2011, 29 June 2012, page 5
54Duncan, William C, ‘The Tenth Anniversary of Dutch Same- Sex Marriage: How Is Marriage Doing in the Netherlands?’, iMAPP Research Brief, Vol.4, No.3, 2011; Marriages and Partnership registrations: Key Statistics, CBSStatLine, 2012, see https://tinyurl.com/colyp2o
any teacher who fails to endorse same-sex marriage in the classroom could be dismissed. Parents will have no legal right to withdraw their children from lessons which endorse same-sex marriage across the curriculum. Already supporters of gay marriage are recommending books for use in schools which undermine traditional marriage, and call on schools to get children to act out gay weddings. 55
The effect on schools will be polarising and divisive.
Five: thin end of the wedge if we redefine marriage
once, what’s to stop marriage being redefined yet further? If marriage is solely about love and commitment between consenting adults, what is to say we should not recognise relationships involving three people? It has already happened in nations that redefined marriage such as in Brazil, a relationship involving three people was given marriage like recognition under civil partnership laws. 56 A similar situation has existed in the Netherlands for several
years.57 In Canada after marriage was redefined, a polygamist argued in court that his relationship should be
recognised in law. 58 When politicians meddle with marriage it all starts to unravel.
Six: marginalises the majority calling opponents
“bigots” is meant to shut down debate and stop people
55Stonewall Education Guides, Including different families, Stonewall, pages 11-13
56The Daily Telegraph, 28 August 2012
57The Brussels Journal, 26 September 2005, see https://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/301; This was an example of a cohabitation agreement [Government of the Netherlands, Marriage, Registered Partnership and Cohabitation Agreements, see https://tinyurl.com/bdykz59]
58PinkNews.co.uk, 4 February 2009, see https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/02/04/mormon-accused- ofpolygamy-to-use-gay-marriage-as-defence/
thinking for themselves. Nick Clegg landed in hot water over a draft speech which called opponents of redefining marriage “bigots”59 and later retracted as support for traditional marriage has come from many respected academics, lawyers, politicians of all parties, and religious leaders. They all know that redefining marriage would have a profound impact.
Seven: many gay people don’t want it; polling shows that only a minority of gay people (39 per cent) believe gay marriage is a priority. 60 And according to the Government
only 3 per cent of gay people would enter a same-sex marriage. 61 A number of gay celebrities and journalists are themselves opposed to gay marriage. Latest official data shows that only 0.5 per cent of households are headed by a same-sex couple. 62 Not all of them want, or will enter, a
59The Daily Mail, 12 September 2012
6039 per cent of respondents identifying as gay/ lesbian/bisexual or other agreed with the statement “I think redefining marriage is a priority for gay people”. 27 per cent disagreed, 34 per
cent said “don’t know”. See Civil Partnerships Survey, ComRes, 27 April - 20 May 2012, Table 3,
page 12
61The Government’s “best estimate assumes no increase in demand” for same-sex marriage, over and above the current demand for civil
partnerships as they have “no evidence that
there would be such an increase” [Equal civil marriage consultation Impact Assessment, Government
Equalities Office, January 2012, pages 2 and 5].
Around 3 per cent of homosexuals have ever been in a civil partnership (based on ONS figures of civil partnership registration and using the Government’s estimate that 6 per cent of the population are LGB)
62Families and Households, 2012, Office for National Statistics, 1 November 2012, Table 1,
page 4
same-sex marriage. So, why is such a monumental change being imposed throughout society?
Eight: the public don’t want it as the Archbishop Vincent Nichols points out seven in ten people want to keep marriage as it is. 63 Other polling which purports to show public support for gay marriage fails to tell respondents that equal rights are already available through civil partnerships. 64 When people are told this crucial fact, most people say keep marriage as it is. 65 MPs say their postbags have been dominated by public opposition to redefining marriage. 66 Ordinary people want the Government to concentrate on reviving the economy
which in the UK is on a verge of a triple dip recession67 and providing better public services, not meddling with
marriage. 68
Nine: it is a huge change to society since we already have civil partnerships could we just argue that same-sex marriage is just a small and logical "next step"? No. Rewriting the meaning of marriage will have a far-reaching impact on society. Over 3,000 laws make reference to marriage. The Government has already admitted that official documents will need to be rewritten to remove
63Marriage Survey, ComRes, 23-24 February 2012, Table 1, pg. 2 64 Gay Couples’ Rights Survey, Populus, 9-11 March 2012, Table 2, page 2; Sunday Telegraph Survey,
ICM, 7-8 March 2012, Table 1, page 1
65Sunday Times Survey, YouGov, 8-9 March 2012, page 7; Marriage Attitude Survey, ComRes, 6-8
January 2012
66The Daily Telegraph, 1 October 2012
67The Daily Telegraph, 25 January 2013, “UK heads for triple dip as GDP contracts 0.3pc” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9826019/UK- heads-for-triple-dip-as-GDP-contracts-0.3pc.html
68Sunday Telegraph Survey, ICM, 7-8 March 2012,
Table 4, page 7; The Sunday Telegraph, 11 March
2012
words like ‘husband’ and ‘wife’. In France the Government is eradicating the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ from all official documents. The Church of England has warned that it could lead to disestablishment and a constitutional crisis. 69
Ten: freedom of conscience will be eroded with the civil liberty of people who believe in traditional marriage is already being eroded. Heroes who defended marriage such as Sir Thomas More, a saint in the catholic faith and respected statesman who defended the truth in Westminster Hall as a prisoner of conscience, and referenced by Pope Benedict XVI on his apostolic visit in a speech to British Civil Society, would be opposed to gay marriage and for good reason. Therefore let us serve one another as Jesus served us, but first and foremost be God’s servant. It is not homophobic but it is upholding a common perception and mutual understanding of marriage that is between a man and woman for the raising of children with respect to the natural law and order. However great injustices are being conducted across the realm against truth indiscriminately with a housing manager from Manchester was demoted and lost 40 per cent of his salary for stating, outside work time, that gay weddings in churches were “an equality too far”.70 Conferences and symposiums in support of traditional marriage have been thrown out of venues. Adverts in support of a 600,000-strong public petition in favour of traditional marriage have been investigated as “offensive”.
71 And all this has taken place before any change to the
69The Daily Telegraph, 14 March 2012; Equal Civil Marriage – Impact Assessment, Home Office, January 2012, pages 7-8; Mail Online, 24 September 2012, see https://tinyurl.com/9trjds8; Telegraph.co.uk, 12 June 2012, see https://tinyurl. com/7h4mp3w
70The Mail on Sunday, 23 October 2011
71Mail Online, 15 May 2012, see https://tinyurl.com/
law has taken place. What will it be like if the law does change? A leading human rights lawyer has outlined the devastating impact of redefining marriage on civil liberties. 72
We must not be afraid to defend the tradition of marriage, and that civil partnerships are to be respected and upheld by the common law in a recognition that they like marriage are a profound friendship. And, what greater love can mankind have than to commit their life to friendship in a bond of chaste love. 73 If we can respect the divine institution of marriage and the sacredness of the family within the fabric of society, what greater civility could we bring to society?Gay marriage will only further deteriorate our society creating divisions, confusions and break downs. Already we have seen that attempts to redefine marriage have led to further deterioration and perversion of laws, ideals that have been upheld and fought to preserve in world wars. And if we remove the conception that marriage is for the procreation of children, it merely becomes symbolic in nature - a gesture, or agreement lacking in substance to deliver. Marriage becomes nothing more than a sham.
The gay marriage movement is totalitarian in nature,
b3jdx8n
72Re: The Implications for Freedom of Conscience and Religious Liberty Arising from Redefining Marriage in England and Wales, Aidan O’Neill,
27 July 2012. See summary at https://c4m.org.uk/
downloads/legalopinionsummary.pdf
73 CNS, 6 December 2005, “Church makes a clear distinction between chastity and celibacy, says Priest on recent Vatican Instruction on admittance in Seminaries”, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/church_makes_a_cl ear_distinction_between_chastity_and_celibacy_says_priest_on_ recent_vatican_instruction_on_admittance_in_seminaries./
while maybe not intended it dictates to the natural order new laws that cannot no matter how much the government legislates be ratified as truths within natural law for two same-sex couples cannot pro-create children and therefore even if we do legislate for gay marriage, despite the constitutional, societal and other issues raised in this publication – gay marriage will never be fully at one with the truth (and it’s natural laws) and therefore never
fully equal. 74 It is an equality too far, as we do through our common compassions have love and respect for our
neighbour and find unity through diversity. Through our baptism our original sins are washed away and we can find to love one another, even our enemies, as Jesus loved us.
74 Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, accused the UK Government of trying to “redefine reality” and branded the proposals a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” that would, “shame the UK in the eyes of the world”. The Telegraph, 05 Mar 2012, “Catholics will be called to oppose gay marriage”, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9122677/Catholics- will-be-called-to-oppose-gay-marriage.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terry Lynch graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 2008 as a bachelor of social science and economics from the department of international politics. Studying the course international politics and military history. Terry covered a variety of themes; On War from Carl Von Clausewitz to St. Thomas Aquinas' just war theology and twenty-first century warfare.
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