To the surprise of many pollsters, moral values played a crucial role in the 2004 election. Millions of Americans turned out in support of marriage initiatives that restrict the definition of marriage to heterosexual couples. Apparently, they hoped to solidify the place of the “traditional” family in American society. But many betrayed their own frustration in bringing about those values by resorting to a most immature tactic: shifting attention from their own failings toward homosexuals.
This political finger pointing — now loudly and shamefully amended to the Oregon Constitution — is a distraction. To erroneously claim that same-sex partners might make poor parents or that same-sex unions are not worthy of the marriage title rests on the dangerous assumption that traditional familial structures automatically inherit a kind of mystical sanctity. In reality, the dignities associated with the family extend only to those who provide nurturing and loving communities for their spouses and children — characteristics that describe many kinds of families.
Unable or unwilling to create family values, those who came out to vote for the marriage initiatives have consoled themselves with the belief that, should they themselves not measure up to the ideal, no one else should have the chance to succeed either.
Jose Bernal
Eugene