Why is it so important to defend marriage as "the voluntary union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others for life” (Hyde v Hyde 1866)? The arguments of our Catholic faith are well known to us: the procreative and unitive aspects of sexual intercourse cannot be artifically separated; sex is meant as a sacramental sign confined to marriage, because marriage was instituted both for companionship and intimacy and for procreation; all sexual activity outside of marriage is not according to the plan of God, and because homosexual acts can never be fruitful they must always lie outside the provenance of marriage and therefore are not licit.
In all sensitivity, we must acknowledge that we are asking homosexual people to make a huge sacrifice... but it is one that will help ground them in the reality of human nature and thus bring greater blessings.
That's all very well if you are Christian, but if not, then the arguments above can be dismissed as "simply theological". Other, that is, than the one claiming that homosexual and heterosexual partnerships are essentially different and only the latter can be described as marriage. Marriage, as a procreative and socially recognised union between male and female, is not only a common denominator in all cultures throughout all ages but actually preceded those cultures. With its stable commitment, its ability to produce children and the familial networks it gave rise to, it preceded any form of "society" and formed the basic building-block for it.
A union of two persons of the same sex cannot do this. If we try to force a false definition upon same-sex partnerships and call them "marriage", we have replaced an essential foundation stone of our societies - or to look at it another way, an essential glue that holds our societies together as cohesive structures - with a beast of a very different nature. The only way for children to arise from such a partnership will be through some form of assisted reproduction like IVF or artificial insemination. This will often lead to children not even knowing who their genetic parents are and will break down the whole structure of the extended family. The family is already under threat, and we can see the results of its breakdown by just looking around us.
This isn't to say the state of being gay is in itself a sin, or that loving someone is a sin, or that gay people would make awful parents, none of which are true. Neither is it a question of wanting to callously deny a certain group of people the right to love and intimacy because of some sort of "yuck" factor. It's saying that homosexual sex can never equate to heterosexual sex and therefore we are dealing with two different partnerships, one of which can be described as marriage and one of which never can. In attempting to place them on equal footing by a false redefinition of marriage, we are denying a natural, fundamental human reality and jeopardising the future health of our societies. Marriage is never a private matter between two individuals; it is an essentially public bond with wide social ramifications and we do well to remember that.
Just by faithfully living as Catholics, by being Catenians, we do much to witness to the importance of marriage and family life. To take things one step further, check out the rationally-argued blog posts here and here, and please consider signing an online petition that has been launched by the Coalition for Marriage (just click the picture above).
