2. Q. What will the amendment do?

A. The amendment will:
-Prevent courts from imposing a new definition of marriage on PA without the consent of her citizens
-Prevent courts from forcing recognition of other states'; same sex marriages
-Prevent a court's "finding" a constitutional right to same-sex marriage
-Prevent automatic granting of rights under definition of marriage
-Prevent local governments from recognizing marriage independently

The amendment will not:
-Prevent private employers from granting benefits to couples
-Prevent petitioning of the government for other rights (legislatively)
-effect current Supreme Court rulings

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4. Q. If you're interested in protecting marriage, why include Civil Unions, too?

A. The two are one and the same. Even those who are against same-sex marriage seem to like the sound of "civil unions", which appear to be a reasonable compromise. In the eyes of the law, however, "civil unions"; would simply preserve the name "marriage", while allowing the institution to be destroyed. Granting homosexual couples the legal rights of married couples, even if we don't call it "marriage", will result in the same social, religious, cultural and economic perils as same-sex marriage itself.

Some states have marriage amendments. Others allow same-sex marriage or by an equivalent name such as civil union or domestic partnership. See below:

Marriage In America
Alabama*
Alaska*
Arizona*
Arkansas*
California*
Colorado*
Florida*
Georgia*
Hawaii*
Idaho*
Kansas*
Kentucky*
Louisiana*
Michigan*
Mississippi*
Missouri*
Montana*
Nebraska
Nevada
North Dakota*
Ohio*
Oklahoma*
Oregon
South Carolina*
South Dakota*
Tennessee*
Texas*
Utah*
Virginia*
Wisconsin*

These 30 states have marriage protection amendments in their state constitutions.

The 27 states denoted with* also have a state Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) or other statute defining marriage as between one man and one woman. In total 45 states have a DOMA. Vermont has a DOMA, but allowed same-sex marriages by calling them civil unions.

In 2007, a judge declared Iowa's state DOMA unconstitutional.

Marriage By Another Name

Massachusetts, Connecticut
Same-sex marriages
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont
Civil unions

These states allow same-sex marriages, no matter whether they are called civil unions or domestic partnerships. For example, New Jersey's civil union statute includes this definition:

"Civil Unions" means the legally recognized union of two eligible individuals of the same sex established pursuant to this act. Parties to a civil union shall receive the same benefits and protections and be subject to the same responsibilities as spouses in a marriage.

Vermont's civil union law states:

Parties to a civil union shall have all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in marriage.

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6. Q. What does someone else's same-sex marriage have to do with society at large?

A. Norway, which accepted gay "marriage"; in the nineties, has seen marriage rates plummet, with 80 percent of firstborn children and 60 percent of subsequent children are born out of wedlock. Allowing homosexuals to marry does not expand the definition of marriage: it renders marriage obsolete.
Additionally, if same-sex relationships are legally recognized, schools will be forced to change curricula to reflect homosexual role models and same-sex parenting as normal and acceptable. Parents will lose control of their children's moral education. Even those who seek to shape their children's morals at home would have much to lose. Says William Mattox of USA Today, "As the parents of a teenage daughter who hopes to get married someday, my wife and I not only have a stake in what our daughter is taught about marriage, we have a stake in what other people's sons are taught as well." Such parents, and indeed, such daughters, have much to lose if other people's sons are taught that a woman is not an essential part of a stable home. This is a defining message of homosexual-headed families.

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8. Q. Shouldn't two people who love each other be allowed to commit themselves to one another?

A. As Glenn Stanton has said, absolutely, and people do that all the time. But we don't call it marriage. There are lots of loving commitments that are not marriage. Friends are committed to each other, a parent is committed to a child, grandparents to their grandchildren, and people are committed to their pets. All of these are forms of love. All of them result in commitments. None of them is marriage.
There are economic consequences to these "commitments" as well. Mr. Stanton continues, "Could your business afford health-care benefits for 5 or 9 people in a group marriage? In fact, in this brave new world, what would keep two heterosexual single moms 'or even six of them' from 'marrying' simply so they can receive family health, tax and social security benefits together? The increased cost to business and government would be crippling."

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10. Q. Isn't this about civil rights?

A. No. There is no constitutional right to marry whomever you please. Marriage is a contract extended to those who qualify. No one can marry a close blood relative, or a child, or someone who is already married, or someone of the same sex. Society can and does place conditions on the institution of marriage. If, as Andrew Sullivan says, "The right to marry whomever you want is a fundamental civil right," how do we say 'no' to a woman who wants to become the third wife of a polygamist"?
It is also interesting to consider that no one is restricting the access any qualifying individual to marriage. If a single homosexual adult wishes to marry, he may. But he must meet the standards of the contract: he must marry someone who is not currently married, he must marry someone who is of legal age, and he must marry someone of the opposite sex. If he chooses not to meet those qualifications, then he is willingly refusing to enter the contract - it is not denied to him.

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