Opponents of the Marriage Protection Amendment Have Weak Case

You have probably heard liberals argue that the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA), which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, would write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution. Don't fall for such rhetoric.

Those who support the amendment aren't trying to deprive homosexuals of any rights. Any single adult has the right to marry any other single adult of the opposite sex. This right is granted to all -- regardless of sexual orientation. And no one is advocating this right be taken away. But neither should we condone as a society “special rights” that extend beyond this safe boundary called “the institution of marriage.”

MPA opponents argue that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue akin to the African-American struggle for equality. Yet no less a civil rights icon than Jesse Jackson has denounced that claim, noting that "gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution."

Amendment supporters have also been disparaged as "bigots." How can that be, when the language being proposed is similar to the language of the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by 427 members of Congress? Are they -- and former President Clinton, who signed the bill into law -- bigots, too?

It is not homosexuals, but marriage, that is under attack. The assault first came subtly through no-fault divorce laws. And the effects of this can be clearly seen. Now, the enemy is coming through "the front door" as the entire meaning of marriage threatens to be re-defined out of existence. Instead of abandoning marriage all together, what if we defended it while seeking to improve those already joined in it? Otherwise, this institution will be destroyed along with society thereafter.

Will marriage survive? A watershed moment might be near. The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on the MPA in June and the stakes could not be higher for our country and our children.

The truth is, the Constitution is going to be altered one way or the other. Either that change will come from unelected, unaccountable judges intent on creating a right of homosexual couples to marry when the Constitution grants no such right; or it will come from those of us who decide to step up and demand our federal lawmakers pass the Marriage Protection Amendment.