I have a traditional view of marriage.
I believe it to be a life-long commitment of one to another.
I believe it calls the married to commitment, fidelity and honesty, sharing and mutual respect.
That’s traditional.
I believe that marriage is important for society: it builds community and places relationships and love at the centre of community.
I believe that marriage is essential for the upbringing of children because it provides a framework of security, love & support.
That’s traditional.
I believe that marriage does not abuse or belittle, but upholds the dignity of the individual in the unity of holy matrimony.
That’s traditional.
I also believe that the gender of those committing to holy matrimony is immaterial, because love is the core of this sacrament and not gender, childbearing, race or class.
When the homophobes use the phrase “traditional” to describe their prejudices, it only serves to undermine what I want to see enshrined in equal marriage… or as I like to think of it: “marriage”:
A traditional view of marriage should be solely about values, not genitalia. I want us to reclaim the word “traditional”.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”.