Marriage is gold standard, says he who ascribes puke green standard to gays' unions

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06/13/2011

by Jeremy Hooper

The obtuseness of the "protect marriage" crowd never ceases to amaze us. Like take this latest from the New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation, the leading anti-equality lobby group in Albany:

New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation, (NYFRF) in partnership with the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) has released a synthesis paper, Marriage and Economic Well-Being, showing that economic well-being in the United States is strongly related to marriage.

The paper shows that married couples are better off economically than persons in any other family structure. It also reports that only 5.8 percent of married families were living in poverty in 2009.

Rev. Jason J. McGuire, President, New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation, said, “The synthesis paper demonstrates what we have been saying all along. Strong families mean a strong state. For New York State to be economically sound, public policy simply must hold marriage in high esteem."

Of the paper, the authors say:

"This research clearly documents why marriage is an important and fundamental part of society. Having the security of marriage in which to foster children is vital to reducing reliance on government welfare programs which cost taxpayers at least $112 billion annually."

"For men, being married proves an economic boon. Married men tend to have more stable employment histories and make, on average, almost 30 percent more than their non-married counterparts. Marriage also affects women and children positively. Married women are less likely to be impoverished, and children from married families have stronger economic mobility as adults."
KEEP READING: Research Shows Marriage Reduces Childhood Poverty by Two Thirds [NYFRF]

Now, we should start out by saying that this MARRI group is an offshoot of the Family Research Council. So know that anything they say in this report comes from the same crew that positions us as a kid-threatening disaster in need of "ex-gay" therapy, churns out brochures that compare same-sex marriages to those bonds which might exist between a man and a horse (complete with horse photo), directly likens us to terrorists, calls LGBT rights a battle of "good versus evil," says DADT repeal proponents are "willing to jeopardize our nation’s security to advance the agenda of the radical homosexual lobby," claims gay teens kill themselves because they know that they're "abnormal," says the gay activists who challenge FRC are "held captive by the enemy," writes that same-sex marriage will be "opening the door to all manner of moral and social evil, and calls on U.S. gays to be either "exported" or criminalized (to name just a few FRC eyebrow-jackers).

But that being said: The referenced report doesn't talk about same-sex marriages. At all. It talks, in full, about the benefits of stable bonds and stable families. It is all about the positives of marriage itself, contrasted with the perceived hardships of gong it alone or living together without the legal contract. So those being the facts: Isn't this kind of report actually a strong case for marriage equality?! Even for people who attach strong negatives to gays, isn't this MARRI research, if accepted on its face, a reason why social conservatives should prefer legally married gays to ones who live that much misrepresented and maligned "gay lifestyle™"?

Now, groups like NYFRF and FRC would surely say no, that this report only speaks to the marriage structure as it applies to heterosexuals, with the equal distribution of penises and vaginas being the catalyst that puts the positives into action. And they'd surly say that married gays will inevitably break the marriage structure, a destruction which will counteract all of the report's highlighted benefits. But that's of course crapballs. All spin. Talking points. Water-muddying noise. Anyone who lives in a real, transparent, fact-cognizant world (i.e. the opposite waters in which the far-right's "culture war is carried out) recognizes that LGBT people are just as capable of strong families as anyone else. Actuality-based citizens know that gays and lesbians are just as capable of placing marriage in high esteem as are their heterosexual counterparts. In fact, here in a world with so many divorces, scandals, reality dating auctions, and sitcoms mined from the idea that men and women are from different, constantly bickering planets, some could argue that gays are overdue the opportunity to take a stab at the marriage game (*and no, Tony Perkins, that doesn't mean we want to put the shiv to the institution, so stop that press release right now).

The bottom line: We have to stop letting these peace-deniers get away with pitting some supposed LGBT monolith against the married, hetero-headed family. If Rev. Jason McGuire holds marriage in such high esteem (as I myself do), then he needs to tell us, point blank, why he is quite literally filling his days fighting against the greater marriage culture. And not in that contrived, enraging "protect marriage" way that has turned our modern political debate into a Seussian fantasy. We want real explanations. We demand to know how he can, in good conscience, deny New York state's rich and vibrant gay of what he himself sees as such great benefits. And he can't just cite his afterlife views, either. Tax breaks, heath insurance, and hospital visitation exist here on this mortal coil.

*REMINDER: This is the same Jason McGuire who has likened marriage equality to child abuse, blamed this whole fight on Satan, and claimed that he's in this to save people like Sen. Tom Duane and Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell (both gay) from "an eternity in Hell":

Here he is likening same-sex marriage to child abuse before going on a wholly Biblically-based tangent for why he opposes *CIVIL* marriage equality for a career:

"When a child grows up under an abusive father,
it is very difficult for the child to grow up to understand
a loving heavenly father. My fear is that what
happens culturally, with the issue of same-sex marriage, is...
a generation from now we look back
and it will be that much more difficult for a
generation of young people that have grown up
to look back and recognize the relationship between
Christ and the church."

SOURCE:
2011.03.27 Rev. Jason McGuire, CEO
[Big Flats Wesleyan Church of Elmira, NY]

And here he is blaming this whole conversation on Satan himself:

"Your ultimate enemy is a spiritual enemy -- Satan.
That's where this lie is coming from"

SOURCE:
2011.03.27 Rev. Jason McGuire, CEO
[Big Flats Wesleyan Church of Elmira, NY]

And ultimately: admitting the ultimate goal of "saving" lawmakers from an eternity in hell:

"When we're talking about a Senator Duane
or an Assemblyman O'Donnell who's sponsoring same-sex marriage,
we're not only talking about a legislator
that is taking a position against God's word,
but a legislator who, if they die without Jesus Christ,
dies without a home in Heaven and an eternity in Hell"

[SOURCE: FLN News, 4/16/09]

SOURCE:
2011.03.27 Rev. Jason McGuire, CEO
[Big Flats Wesleyan Church of Elmira, NY]