I’m in favour of equal rights for same-sex coupls. And I’m a Christian. What the?

As far as I know, there is only one thing you can possibly do to change how the law treats you. In theory, our law treats every single person according to the same laws. If you get yourself into a situation of poverty, you will be treated the same way as anyone else in the same situation. Everyone who breaks the law faces the same legal system. No-one gets special privileges.

Except married couples.

Two couples can be identical in every respect, except one is married, and the law treats them completely differently. I don’t know the figure in Australia, but in the US about 1400 legal rights are conferred onto married couples that are not available to un-wed couples. These include:

  • Joint parental rights of children,
  • status as “next-of-kin” for hospital visits and medical decisions,
  • right to make a decision about the disposal of loved ones remains
  • immigration and residency for partners from other countries
  • spousal veterans benefits
  • joint filing of tax returns
  • wrongful death benefits for surviving partner and children
  • tax advantages

Let me state something very clearly: all sex outside of heterosexual marriage is wrong. On that point I accord with the Bible and nearly all other Christians.

However, the current situation is one of clear and arbitrary discrimination against same-sex couples. Nowhere else in our legal system are rights offered on the basis of race, gender, nor creed. If we are to offer legal rights to couples of one persuasion, it is obviously discrimination to deny them to those of another. I cannot think of any reason for such discrimination. (Can you?)

“But what about the sanctity of marriage,” you might exclaim. Marriage is a sacred, God-ordained institution. Jesus said “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ” (Matthew 19:4,5)

That’s why I think the way forward here is this: establish a legal institution of gay civil-union which affords to same-sex couples the same rights as to heterosexual couples. But don’t call it marriage. Let the Christian church make it clear that all sex outside heterosexual marriage is wrong, and the new institution is certainly not that. (In that respect, this post’s title is misleading).

The Biblical institution of marriage is maintained: it is offered only to heterosexual couples. The Biblical view of homosexuality, and extra-maritial sex of all kinds, is not compromised. And arbitrary legal discrimination is resolved.

When did the state become a sin-nanny? I’m unsure, is it the state’s job to legislate that sin be illegal? Or is the state’s job merely to maintain a peaceful, free, and just society.

I concede there might be arguments alone the lines of preserving the sanctity of marriage by maintaining its uniqueness. My mind isn’t completely made up on this issue, so if you disagree why not leave a comment.

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