The Criminalization of Christianity
The belligerent demand for homosexual "marriage" is not merely a yearning for marital bliss behind a white picket fence or - in the US context - family life in a little house on the prairie, nor even a desire for "equality". In their hearts and souls LGBTIQ activists (add whatever letters take your fancy) know that unequal things cannot be made "equal" by insisting they are. Even in the trivia of sport like tennis, men's doubles is not equal to mixed doubles and no amount of legislation will make it so.
For decades since the late 1960s, the feminist 'sisterhood' has insisted that marriage is a tyrannical, patriarchal institution that oppresses women, that it is "legalised domestic prostitution". Now suddenly they and their allies in the homosexual community and the cultural Left are extolling marriage in the name of "equality"? So what are they really after? Well to begin with, some have realised (although they won't admit it) that they were wrong about marriage. It is obvious in studying the sociological data that has emerged in the past 50 years, that both the adults and children in families where the partners are married do better on the indices of health, earnings, academic achievement and general well-being, and the Left craves some of that. This is one of their more commendable motivations.
Other motivations are not so benign. Many homosexual activists, probably the majority, aim to destroy marriage as the institution it is today. Masha Gessen, lesbian activist, stated this in a 2012 interview with [US] ABC Radio: "It's a no-brainer that homosexuals should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. .. Fighting for gay marriage involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there - because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie."
Homosexual activist Clinton Fein echoes Gessen's comments: "Demand the institution [of marriage] and then wreck it. James Dobson was right about our evil intentions we just plan to be quicker than he thought." There are already demands by threesomes who want to get married, for polygamy and group marriage and incestuous marriages. The aim is to make marriage meaningless. If these activists really believed in marriage as an institution, they would support conservatives who want to make divorces less easy and to reintroduce the concept of fault in divorce legislation.
What homosexual activists cannot tolerate is that in Christian morality, physical homosexual acts are regarded as sinful. The decriminalising of homosexuality was never enough for them, they are determined to force affirmation of sexual deviancy under penalty of law. Hence the obsession with forcing Christian bakers to bake wedding cakes for homosexual "marriages", and accusing them of "hate" crimes if they decline. One baker insisted he did not hate homosexuals, and was happy to bake them birthday or graduation cakes, but it was against his conscience to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding. And there were dozens of other bakers from whom the happy couple could obtain their cake. No, they were determined this particular Christian baker be punished. He was hit with a huge fine and he and his staff ordered to attend pro-homosexuality "sensitivity" classes.
In the US County Clerks who decline to issue homosexual "marriage" licences are threatened with the loss of their jobs and time in jail, even though there are other Clerks available in the same office who are willing to issue such licences.
And then there is our very own homosexual activist, Rodney Croome in Tasmania, referring Archbishop Julian Porteous to the Anti-Discrimination Commission because he sent home with children in Catholic schools the Catholic Bishops booklet on marriage, for their parents. The ultimate agenda behind the labelling as "bigots" and "homophobes" of all who oppose homosexual "marriage" is the criminalization of Christianity. Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to be commended for giving all citizens a vote in a plebiscite or referendum.