The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered," contrary to natural law, and separate sexual acts from the gift of life. The same Catechism teaches that marriage is a covenant by which a man and woman are joined for life, for the good of the spouses, and the procreation of children.
In short, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality and marriage are not compatible. But that's not what this blog is about.
The use of a constitutional amendment to legally define marriage as being between a man and woman was never a moral approach. That's what this is blog is about. Beyond those laws which prevent murder and theft, laws only serve to determine the number of people standing at the business end of a government-wielded gun. As any law can only be enforced by force, coercion, and confiscation--all of which are, in the case of same-sex unions, far more destructive than the acts they prevent--the Church (or any of its members) should not advocate the use of a voting booth to force others to live in compliance with Church teachings.
If the immorality of any type of government force is not reason enough to avoid writing laws in order to enforce one's faith, then the creation of division should be considered as well. Legally forcing outsiders to live by Church teachings (regardless of if done in defense of natural law or Church teachings themselves) creates a man-made divide between believers and unbelievers--and force and evangelism are, to put it lightly, at odds.
A common reply to this usually goes something along the lines of, "but same-sex marriages separate sexual acts from the gift of life...natural law...and such." Well, yes, that's true--it's up there in the first paragraph. But the use of contraceptives does the exact same thing, and contraceptive use is pretty prevalent for something that is also contrary to Church teachings. Why not outlaw contraceptives, too?
The use of contraceptives within a marriage is no more private than any homosexual act within a marriage, no less rejecting of the gift of life, and the use of contraceptives is just as much of a choice as is participation in a homosexual act. Yet homosexual marriage is treated as a voting booth topic, and contraceptives are rarely even spoken of at Mass. Both equally separate sexual acts from the gift of life, and both should be addressed in the same way--by attempting to win the hearts and minds of believers and non-believers alike by explaining why the Church teaches what it does, and then allowing all individuals to live their lives with the free will to choose God's way or reject it. God gave man free will because he wants people to choose to have a relationship with Him--and the difference between choosing God's way and being forced to live God's way is the difference between marriage and slavery.
There do exist issues which are more destructive than the authoritarian methods of a government-enforced law, but this is not one of them. Demanding that an issue like same-sex marriage be handled by a politician or judge doesn't change the group being restricted; it only adds to the number of people who were already controlled in the first place. At some point, there will be no one outside of that group to speak up for those who no longer are allowed a voice.
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