Protect tradition in Florida Constitution

  • by: John Stemberger 05/19/08

A yes vote on Amendment 2 will do only one thing.  It defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and does not prevent the government or private companies from extending benefits to anyone. 

Florida law protects marriage, but there is a national strategy by homosexual groups to redefine marriage.

In addition to Massachusetts, marriage laws have been challenged this past year by activist judges in Iowa, Maryland, California and New York.  Because of this, 27 states have also protected the legal definition of marriage in their constitutions.

What helped me “get” this issue was an understanding that creating same-sex families.  What is the impact on children?

A massive body of social science literature in peer-reviewed journals over the past 40 years reveals the common-sense answer.  Children are always happier, healthier and perform better in every area when raised with a married mother and father.

And the inverse is true.  Whenever a mother or a father is absent, all the social problems with children such as drug abuse, depression, high school dropout rates and STDs are higher.

Same-sex marriages subject children to a vast untested social experiment.

Children need to understand the proper relationship between a man and a woman; a father and a mother; and a husband and a wife.  This is best for human socialization.

Single parents work hard to do their best in raising their children, but whenever possible kids needs both a mother and a father.  A loving and a compassionate society always comes to the aid of motherless and fatherless homes.

But a loving and compassionate society never creates inherently motherless and fatherless families as a matter of law and policy.

Same-sex marriage evaluates adult desires over what is best for children.  If you want to protect children by giving them the best chance for both a mom and a dad, vote yes on 2.

Our opponents are two stealth homosexual activist groups that are not willing to even discuss, much less debate, the policy “merits” of homosexual marriages.  Instead, they resort to desperate scare tactics directed primarily directed primarily at Florida’s most precious citizens – seniors.

They are making fraudulent and speculative arguments without any legal authority that seniors will somehow lose their health or Social Security benefits.

The fact is that the state’s highest court, the Florida Supreme Court, has ruled that Amendment 2 simply takes our existing state marriage law and places it into the state constitution with the same effect of defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman only.

Many ask the question, “How will someone’s gay marriage affect my marriage?”  The wiser question is “How will same-sex marriage transform the cultural meaning of marriage throughout society?”

Just look at Massachusetts as “Exhibit A” for why homosexual marriage is a really bad idea.

If so-called ‘gay marriage” is legalized in Florida, public schools will avoid lawsuits by teaching your children that homosexual behavior is the moral, social and legal equivalent of marriage between a man and a woman.  Teachers in Massachusetts public schools are being forced to teach children that very thing.

National Public Radio did an interview with Deb Allan, an eighth-grade teacher who was teaching “lesbian intercourse” to junior high school kids demonstrating with models, diagrams and sex toys.

Parents were outraged.  When NPR asked about parents’ objections to this practice, Allen replied, “Give me a break; it’s legal now.”  If you want to stop this from happening in Florida then vote yes on 2.

It protects something old, something precious and something beautiful.