Is There a Conservative Argument for Gay Marriage?

By Jennifer Thieme, Director of Finance & Advancement for the Ruth Institute

This article was originally published at Clash Daily on February 1, 2013.

There is a small but steadily growing idea among conservatives that they can support gay marriage and remain conservative. My position is that this is not possible. Here’s why.

Gay marriage does not exist as a stand-alone policy issue. Nor is it a conservative issue, because it requires the natural family to be dismantled at the level of public policy. True conservatives support limited government, and they understand that there are other institutions which serve to limit government power. Two of these institutions are the natural family and religion.

Same sex marriage, which as a policy removes the gender requirement for marriage, is a great vehicle for those who wish to increase the scope and power of the government, as it forces these other institutions to diminish. These other institutions can no longer act as an effective barrier against government intrusion into the personal details of people’s lives. As these institutions diminish, government will step into the vacuum.

In order to accommodate gay couples into the institution of marriage, all gendered words are removed from the law, words such as bride, groom, husband, wife, mother, father. These are replaced with gender neutral words such as partner, party, applicant, and parent.

Read more at Ruth Institute Blog.