Letter: Marriage is societal cornerstone

To the Editor:

Minnesotans will be asked at the voting booth this November “Should marriage be defined as between one woman and one man?”

Proponents of same-sex marriage are asking us to “Be nice and vote no.” They are requesting that we allow people to define marriage however a couple or group sees fit.

Freedom to live as one pleases sounds nice. Certainly, I don’t want any government or group restricting people’s love lives as long as they are consenting adults. But this question is not about love; it’s about marriage.

Marriage has never been about just two people. It is about establishing the family unit. It is about responsibility to our duties to society — to better our society. It’s about having and raising children and having a structure around those children that gives them the best chance to succeed in life. For many of us, marriage is a sacred blessing from God which he established as one man and one woman.

Marriage has been the cornerstone maintaining and growing societies since before history was written in essentially every society. Even in societies that felt that homosexuality was part of the norm, such as ancient Athens (see Plato’s “The Symposium”), they still didn’t press for same-sex marriage. No, most ended up getting married to have children.

We should give great pause before we consider redefining marriage to include same-sex couples when history has avoided it.

Does society have the right to regulate who gets married? Of course. Certainly incest and polygamy have long been forbidden. Children can’t get married. Why not? To establish a healthy environment to produce and raise children.

Marriage between a man and woman should be the ideal of our society simply because of our children. Procreating forces us to be better people for our kids. It forces us to strive for a better society and world because we want that better world for our kids.

If a same-sex couple wants to form a civil union, fine. But placing same-sex marriage on the same pedestal as heterosexual marriage goes too far. Keep marriage between one man and one woman.

Wm. David Farrar

Red Wing

Tags: opinion, letters