The Sanctity of Marriage

The Sanctity of Marriage
By Carlos T Mock, MD
April 18, 2009

The Religious Right debate on gay marriage is actually about divorce, adultery, sodomy, and even masturbation. I'm not kidding. For the far-right and the folks running the Congress, gay marriage is wrapped up in all of those issues - and according to these folks, they're ALL bad things that the government needs to regulate.

Here are a few Biblical verses to share with the Congress and State Legislatures:

Divorce
“Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9 cf. Genesis 2:24).

Importance of Marriage & Celibacy Before Marriage
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18)... Now there is an exception to this principle that, “it is not good that the man should be alone.” The exception is with the man who has the gift of celibacy, which is the state of remaining unmarried. Paul discusses celibacy in 1Corinthians 7:6-8. He states that where this exception exists it is a gift from God.

MESSAGE:
For divorced members of Congress
Ask the divorced Senators' offices how they're defending marriage by being divorced, and if the Bible was wrong about divorce being against God's law?

For Other Senators
Please publicly condemn Senators Allen, Bond, Hutchison and McConnell for violating God's law and failing to protect marriage by getting divorced. And please ask Senator Lindsay Graham to publicly state if he's gay or straight, and if he's remaining celibate while unmarried.

When the defense of marriage act (DOMA) was passed, Congress was so worried about same sex marriage that they failed to actually “defend” marriage. Newt Gingrich, the House Speaker at the time, has been married three times. He married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old (she was seven years his senior at 26 years old). They had two daughters and divorced in 1981. She claims he "discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery", an action that would later be used against him; in 1992, his Democratic opponent, Tony Center, ran an ad pointing out this fact. In 1981, six months after his divorce was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther. He remained married to Ginther until 2000, when they divorced. Shortly thereafter, Gingrich married Callista Bisek, with whom he later admitted to having had an affair during his second marriage, at approximately the same time that he was leading the Congressional investigation of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. There were currently at least 29 divorced members of Congress. There was no official data on how many members have committed adultery.

How come Congress did not se fit to censure Mr. Gingrich and these divorced adulteress for not defending the Sanctity of Marriage?

America’s divorce rates:

According to enrichment journal on the divorce rate in America:
The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%
The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%
The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%.

Should we enact laws preventing these adulterers from serving in public office?

Are all of you heterosexuals getting the picture? You have destroyed the institution of marriage all on your own. As a friend of mine told me recently: "You gays should be allowed to marry, so you can suffer with the rest of us."

So why has Freedom to Marry, the ACLU, Lambda Legal and many gay activists launched themselves to obtain the right to marry? Is it because they want to be as miserable as straight people? No, I think they truly believe they can save the institution of marriage for all heterosexuals.

Lets face it, when I was working as an Obstetrician Gynecologist in the conservative western suburbs of Chicago, not only was I in the closet, but I was working twice as hard as my straight counterparts. I took call on all the holidays (since I had no family to take care of), and I took any extra call that my equal partners did not want, simply because of my sense of insecurity drove me to be the best gynecologist in town. I felt it was my duty to overcome my "gayness" by working extra hard.

Could it be that this is the same force that is driving the GLBT movement? Tired of being denied over more than 1,138 federal rights that accompany civil marriage, and some additional 300-600 per individual state that they deserve under the 14th amendment of our Constitution which states "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States," they are willing to take on the institution of marriage and clean it up.

As we celebrate 29 years of the AIDS epidemic, we have proven to ourselves that we can take care of our own. The AIDS response, led by gays and lesbians and joined by all truly caring people, demonstrated the high levels of magnificence and effectiveness of which humans are capable. That response will remain a standard for all of history to look back on with admiration and awe. Is that what we can bring into the marriage equation—a sense of commitment?

What if, like in Massachusetts, same sex marriage becomes the law of the land? Will the straight couples emulate us, just like they do on everything else that we do best: arts, decorating, hairdressing, beauty, harmony, etc.? (Massachusetts holds the lowest divorce rate in the nation.)

Is this the true motivation (other than being tired of being second class citizens) behind the same sex marriage movement?

Now that Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and soon many other states are allowing same sex marriages, it’s time to ask these questions.

Before you answer, please take a moment to examine your own heterosexual marriage and tell me how happy you are in it.

Carlos Mock, MD has published three books and is the Floricanto Press editor for its GLBT series. He was inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October of 2007. He grew up middle-class in the suburbs of San Juan, Puerto Rico. His website is: www.carlostmock.com