Marriage is getting some media coverage lately. Lots of folks are writing
columns trying to predict what the Supreme Court justices will decide in
the two cases challenging the time-honored, God-ordained institution of
marriage.
One CNN article that came with a carefully staged photo stunned me and
I printed it out to remind myself how surreal and yet how serious this
all is. The picture was of two young women in strapless wedding gowns,
the whitest of white. One is on the other’s lap, noses and hands touching,
with their dresses cascading off the back of a red pick-up surrounded
by a country landscape. The article discusses the unique challenges
photographers of same sex weddings face in creating poses for their
subjects. There’s even a book out on the topic: CAPTURING LOVE: THE
ART OF LESBIAN AND GAY PHOTOGRAPHY.
One of the problems to be addressed: too much white. Solution: one of
the brides should wear a colored sash.
Another problem: When one groom is standing behind the other in a
shoulder to shoulder shot, one groom’s boutonniere could be hidden or
squished. The fix: one groom wears his on the right lapel instead of the
traditional left.
In a column, published just days before oral arguments in the marriage
cases, Constitutional attorney Matt Barber described the core of the
decision now before the justices. “Of central concern,“ he writes, “is
whether the Supreme Court will put its official stamp of approval on
that cartoonish contradiction-in-terms labeled “same sex marriage.”
Amidst all the talk of justice for gays, individual rights, and a concept
called “marriage equality,” natural law and this CNN picture of lesbian
brides remind us that same-sex marriage simply is not marriage.
Marriage was God’s idea and it’s for sexually complementary humans.
If the Supreme Court redefines marriage to mean something other
than this, there will be no putting the constitutional brakes on calling
other groupings of people marriage. Groups characterized by bigamy,
polygamy, polyamory, incest, or even just plain old friendship.
Right now we’re seeing the stories about long-term gay and lesbian
couples who tell us marriage would mean everything to them. But if
they get their way, we’ll be on track for marriage to mean nothing. And,
that’s really the endgame, to render marriage meaningless.
Sure lots of gay and lesbian couples are longing for the “married” status.
They may not be out to destroy the institution…but that will be the
result from tampering with the definition of marriage. Matt Barber, who
also teaches at Liberty University Law School, says that the bottom line
is, “Homosexual activists don’t want the white picket fence. They want
to burn down the white picket fence.”
For believers, marriage will endure. The good it does for society may
not.
If you haven’t already begun fervently praying that the U.S. Supreme
Court would uphold the institution of marriage, now is a good time to
start.