Conservative Surrender on Gay ‘Marriage’

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Senate Democrats decided earlier this month to postpone a vote on the mislabeled "Respect for Marriage Act" until after the November midterm elections.

Although this delay may disappoint the 71% of Americans who reject the true definition of marriage, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told reporters, "I'm still very confident that the bill will pass." Baldwin became the first openly homosexual U.S. senator in 2012. 

If real conservatives and Christians are wondering about the damage the 1960s sexual revolution wrought, look no further than Tammy Baldwin. A homosexual woman senator used to be unthinkable. Just before the sexual revolution, Baldwin's homosexuality would have resulted in her classification as a "psychopathic personality with a pathologic sexuality," according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, issued by the American Psychiatric Association in 1952.

In the manual's second edition, published in 1968, the APA still considered homosexuality a mental disorder. It was not until 1973 that the APA redefined homosexuality as a "sexual orientation disturbance."

Likewise — and now we're hitting on a third-rail issue, even among Catholics — Baldwin's position as a woman in politics would have met with disapproval from the Church in earlier times. "Women in war or parliament are outside their proper sphere, and their position there would be the desperation and ruin of society," Pope Pius X said in his 1909 "Address to Delegation of the Union of Italian Catholic Ladies."

When the U.S. House of Representatives voted on the marriage bill in July, 47 of its 212 Republicans supported the measure, prompting the website Politico to comment that this bipartisan support for legislation redefining marriage "would've been considered unthinkable a decade ago."

But this development is unsurprising, considering that most Republicans now support gay "marriage," just like most Republicans support contraception and abortion. In short, identifying as a conservative and voting Republican are not necessarily indicative of moral virtue.

The congressional attempt to destroy the understanding of marriage as a permanent union between one man and one woman is a wake-up call for Christians. It demonstrates that "there is a crisis between the Church and the universally pervasive Western culture," as Thomistic psychologist Dr. G.C. Dilsaver wrote. 

Although too many prelates defer to the pervasive culture rather than honor the demands of their God-ordained offices, Hell will not and cannot prevail against Christ's Church. Catholics need to be reminded of this truth.

Marriage is an unchangeable institution, "ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring," the Church teaches (CCC, 1601). Therefore, the resulting family serves as the most basic form of community, supporting all other communities.

The Church teaches that the three goods of marriage are:

1. Procreation and education of children
2. Faithfulness and mutual trust and love of the spouses
3. Indissolubility

In his book Christian Social Order, Fr. Brian Mullady noted the connection between these three goods and the wider society. "Because of the widespread practice of divorce, contraception, abortion and free sex, it seems important to clarify the reasons why marriage is necessary to affirm all these goods for social peace," he wrote.

While the average liberal favors murdering unwanted children in the womb, the average conservative welcomes consequence-free sex. Even among Catholics, this type of sex is the norm. "When it comes to Catholics who attend Mass weekly, just 13% say contraception is morally wrong," according to a 2016 Pew Research survey.

Most people in the modern Culture of Death reject the way God ordered the world. However, rather than fixating on grave evils, we should celebrate and make known the good people are depriving themselves of.

The only way to evangelize is to live out the Faith, for one cannot give what he does not first have himself. Although condemning evil is a necessary part of living out the Faith (especially today), it is spiritually deadening to focus all one's energy on illuminating everything wrong in the world while neglecting duties. Additionally, when one is fulfilling his duties in life — that is, doing his duty to God — his presence and conduct serve as a condemnation of evil.

For example, when a husband protects, leads and provides for his family, he is simultaneously denouncing the Culture of Death and showing spiritually enslaved men in that culture what they are missing.

A woman does the same when she is modest, domestic and willing to be led. Her feminine example wordlessly shows other women what they are missing. 

It's no coincidence that St. James advises us to be "doers of the word" and "slow to speak" (James 1:19, 22). 

To learn more about the conservative surrender on gay "marriage," go Premium and watch this week's Mic'd Up, wherein David Gordon interviews Catholic journalist and author George Neumayr.

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