Endorsement of Florida Marriage Protection Amendment

I fully endorse the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, which reads as follows: “In as much as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

My reasoning is a follows. Over the ages, the special needs and obligations of families have led to the development of laws designed to protect families, parents and especially children, all based on the idea that a married couple consists of a man and woman. If, based on some fuzzy thinking about equality, we now change the legal meaning of the word marriage so that these same laws apply to homosexual couples we demolish this legal structure at risk to the welfare of the family, especially the children.

This fuzzy thinking about equality seems to assume that being equal means being the same. However, certainly that is not the case. Women are equal to men, but most certainly not the same. Other fuzzy thinking leads to the claim that the amendment prevents same-sex partners from making arrangements for private-sector health care and estate planning, which is not the case.

Bob Hagenmaier

27.09.2008. 17:49