omosexual couples also seek to obtain some of the “standard” benefits that heterosexual couples already receive through legalized marriage. One of the advantages they hope to gain is the ability to make financial decisions in the case of a partner’s incapacity. Also, if courts would legally sanction their marriage, they could automatically inherit property and have rights of survivorship. These requests by themselves are not unrealistic; however, homosexuals do not have to be married to realize these benefits. Anyone can have legal papers drawn-up to grant or assign rights to another individual. Marriage is not an automatic path to liberation. Even the legal director of a gay rights organization in New York City, Paula L. Ettelbrick, questions whether the legalization of same-sex marriages will have a positive effect on the gay community. Ettelbrick argues that “gays and lesbians should work to make society accept their differences, rather than conform to the heterosexual model of marriage” (177). Marriage will not free gay men and women; instead, it will constrain them. It will force “assimilation into the mainstream, and undermine the goals of gay liberation” (Ettelbrick 178). Marriage goes against the two main objectives of the gay rights movement: “the affirmation of gay identity and culture; and the validation of many forms of relationships” (Ettelbrick 178). We cannot tolerate the legalization of homosexual marriages if we are to bring respect back to the bonds of holy matrimony. Judges in courtrooms cannot simply set aside biblical beliefs in order to get activist groups off their backs. Positions must be taken and stands must be made in order to stop this degradation to our society. Our children are counting on us to make intelligent decisions about their futures....
