Doing the Unfashionable Thing

The wedding was a big social event in Boston. The couple had worked for former Governor William Weld and was well known in the world of Massachusetts politics. Attendees included the president of the state Senate, the mayor of Boston, an Episcopalian bishop, two former governors, and many other high-profile members of both political parties. The same-sex wedding of Kevin Smith and Mitchell Adams was definitely the place to be on June 22. One man, however, didn't attend. That's Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He was in Washington, D.C., asking Congress to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex "marriage." Well, give Governor Romney credit. It can't be easy to take such a stand against so many members of his own state government and his own party. But the governor recognizes something that they don't -- something that won't let him stay silent and go along with the crowd. Romney told Congress, "[The courts] viewed marriage as an institution principally designed for adults. Adults are who they saw. Adults stood before them in the courtroom. And so they thought of adult rights, equal rights for adults." But, Romney pointed out, even if this deeply flawed view had been correct, adult rights are the least important issue at stake. He testified, "Marriage is principally for the nurturing and development of children. The children of America have the right to have a father and a mother." Unlike the politically correct crowd, you see, Romney understands that having a mother and a mother, or a father and a father, is not the same thing. And what's taking place in his own state, where the courts have forced same-sex "marriage" on the population, has Romney worried. On Massachusetts marriage licenses, the words bride and groom have already been replaced with "Party A" and "Party B." Now, Romney told Congress, "My Department of Public Health has asked whether we must rewrite our state birth certificates to conform to our Court's same-sex 'marriage' ruling. Must we remove 'father' and 'mother' and replace them with 'parent A' and 'parent B'?" It's not so farfetched. As marriage expert Maggie Gallagher points out, "The Massachusetts supreme court has already laid down a marker in this case. . . . The court ruled that something called the 'presumption of parentage' is one of the rights of marriage. Until that ruling, there was nothing called the presumption of parentage in the law. The traditional marriage idea was the 'presumption of paternity' -- that is, the husband is presumed by law to be the father of any baby his wife has." But then Gallagher asks, with sarcasm, the critical question: "But how can same-sex 'marriages' really be viewed as the equivalent of husband-and-wife unions if we [still] cling to such outmoded, biologically rooted notions of parenthood?" Gallagher is right-and she's right about where things are headed. That's why we desperately need leaders with the courage of their convictions, leaders like Governor Mitt Romney. If he goes on this way, the governor may not be invited to the next big social occasion in Boston. But any man who would rather work to preserve marriage than run with the "in crowd" has his priorities in the right order. Another famous Massachusetts politician wrote a book called Profiles in Courage: Well, I'll nominate Governor Mitt Romney. For further reading and information: Maggie Gallagher, "In Defense of the Family," National Review Online, 25 June 2004. Ann E. Donlan, "GOP: Gay old Party: Weld, Swift attend Republican grooms' wedding," Boston Herald, 23 June 2004. Testimony of Governor Mitt Romney before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, "Preserving Traditional Marriage: A View from the States," 22 June 2004. Amy Fagan, "Marriage bill backed by Romney," Washington Times, 23 June 2004. Rebecca Hagelin, "What's at stake in marriage debate," Townhall.com, 30 June 2004. Kathleen Parker, "Gay marriage places church and state in historic clash," Townhall.com, 26 June 2004. Alan Cooperman, "Church 'Protect Marriage Day' Is Urged," Washington Post, 26 June 2004, A24. BreakPoint Commentary No. 030616, "Power Plays: Santorum and the Sex Lobby." See BreakPoint's sanctity of marriage resource page. Also visit www.marriagedebate.com. Call 1-877-322-5527 to request the free BreakPoint marriage amendment information packet and the free "Talking Points on Marriage and Same-Sex Unions." Also available is the Speak the Truth in Love kit (suggested donation: $25). John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage (1957).

07/1/04