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Calgary Bishop Henry Argues Gay “Marriage” Legislation is a “Betrayal of Children”

CALGARY, June 28, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian bishop Fred Henry, in a letter published in the Calgary Sun Sunday, argues that the proposed same-sex “marriage” law for Canada ignores what is in the best interests of children.

“The most overlooked and disenfranchised group in the current debate about marriage are children,” Bishop Henry writes. He argues that the proposed Bill C-38 is a measure that is in the best interest of adults, not children. Parodying the “It's the Charter, stupid!” logo coined by the Young Liberals at the last national convention, Henry retorts, “It's about children, stupid!”

“According to the government's agenda, Bill C-38, the social institution that has always symbolized our society's commitment to the future -- our children, will be transformed into an institution that symbolizes our commitment to the present -- the needs and desires of adults,” he continues. “Marriage will have a new primary purpose, to validate and protect sexually intimate adult relationships.”

The bishop points out the obvious “fundamental difference,” between traditional and same-sex “marriage” – homosexual couples can never procreate. “The proposed re-invention of the institution of marriage means that marriage must be disconnected from procreation, and the traditional family, the only institution that honours a child's natural right to know and be cared for by his or her parents, must be dismantled,” he argues.

Bishop Henry dismisses the argument that good same-sex parents would be better than poor heterosexual parents: “Given that stable and exclusive homosexual coupling is the exception rather than the norm, to connect homosexual coupling with children's welfare or with a stable environment for children is nothing if not dishonest.”

“Families with both mothers and fathers are generally better for children than those with only mothers or only fathers,” he adds. “Biological parents usually protect and provide for their children more effectively than non-biological ones.”

Same-sex “marriage” “will effectively make children's rights secondary to adults and turn on its head the ethical principle that children, as the most vulnerable people, must come first,” the bishop maintains. “Children need and have a right to both a mother and a father and a right to be reared by their own biological parents. There is a deep human need to be connected to our origins.”

“Changing the definition of marriage to include same sex couples would openly and directly contravene both the right and the norm and would mean marriage could no longer function to affirm the biological bond between parents and their children,” he concludes. “When there is a conflict between what adults want and what children need, who should be given priority?”

Read the full text of Bishop Henry’s letter:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Bishop_Fred_Henry/2005/06/26/11...

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