SAME-SEX ʻMARRIAGEʼ IN ENGLAND AND WALES:

March 29, 2014

By A. Prentice

It seems that with the legalising of same-sex ʻmarriageʼ in England and Wales, the wedding ring has acquired heightened significance, judging from the frequency with which it is displayed on the BBC News website, the clasped hands of two men or two women accompanying many of the stories.

It is ironic that the sort of marriage which a wedding ring used to symbolise the union of male and female has for years been denigrated and devalued by the same media and liberal commentators who now cheer on the new ʻmarriageʼ.

Heterosexual cohabitation without marriage, long since accepted with a clear conscience as routine in British society, has also done its part in undermining what used to be regarded as a sacred institution.

Now the order of all things marital has been turned upside down and inside out.

In rushing through its misguided legislation, justifying it with the preposterous assertion that the new law would breath life into traditional marriage, Parliament has not only sanctioned an absurd variation on the theme, but has fenced it round with ominous warnings against those who refuse to recognise its validity.

England is not alone. Canada began to enact same-sex ʻmarriageʼ in 2003, the same year that the United States once proud of its socially conservative heritage started to cave in; since then, one American state after another has followed suit. Several European countries have also joined the club. Presbyterian Scotland will fall into line later this year.

Assurances from the British government that no church will be compelled to perform same-sex ʻweddingsʼ are hollow. A combination of lawsuits in England and EU legislation will soon be mustered to eliminate the perceived discrimination on this score. And it will be another generation or so before the pernicious effects of this radical experiment upon the family structure and British society are fully understood

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