Tacked to the wall of my AP US History classroom was a poster of a Winston Churchill quote. It read, “If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at 35, you have no brain.”
Though the line is understood to be misquoted, the theory behind it remains highly relevant in today’s society. It is a fact exploited by politicians, corporations, and activist groups, often with a great degree of success. It has helped elect presidents (President Obama’s ‘08 campaign), elevated faulty charitable organizations (Invisible Children), and redefined marriage in the law.
What was the societal norm of conjugal marriage a decade ago is now taboo. It is considered dated, bigoted, and (my personal favorite), a ‘gender normative’ stereotype. In a remarkably short period of time, gay marriage advocates have turned the tide of public opinion away from logic and tradition, in favor of emotion and perceived ultra-modernity.
In a suspiciously legislative decision, the Supreme Court redefined marriage across the country. Leaving the abhorrent levels of judicial activism aside, this was achieved by targeting Millennials.
Adolescents and 20-somethings notoriously reject logic in favor of fleeting feelings — doing what feels good, not what is good. To account for this, the voting age is 18, and to be elected to the Presidency, Senate, or House of Representatives, one must be 35, 30, and 25, respectively. However, young people have an enormous impact on social policy; a trend recognized by gay rights activists. For the last few years, groups like the Human Rights Campaign have targeted younger generations through inspirational YouTube videos, stories of same-sex marriage proposals, and petitions that read “Love is Love.” Advocacy groups omit concerns over the effects of same-sex parenting on children, the possibility of religious discrimination, and the ramifications of redefining the largest societal institution in history. They fail to mention these consequences require thought in addition to emotion. The LGBT lobby thought the Millennial generation might respond to this. And they were correct.
Proponents of gay marriage have mastered the art of persuasion. Their agenda has not only focused on impressionable youth, but has created a culture of vicious division among these generations, turning many away from their faith. Instead of recognizing that groups and religious sects have principled, logical grounds to maintain the definition of marriage, gay marriage activists engage in hateful name calling and accusations of bigotry. And nothing gets a crowd of millennials fired up more than perceived discrimination. Their idols, young actors, pop stars, athletes, and bloggers who have succumbed to this line of thought, turn and spread the pro-gay marriage stance to their millions of Millennial followers).
Social media is flooded with mindless posts lamenting the bigotry of the American population, particularly those belonging to the Catholic Church and other religious institutions. Their argument is almost always that two people should be able to marry, regardless of gender, because “love is love.”
This would be a fantastic argument if societal and government-recognized institutions were based in emotion. But, alas, they are not.
Marriage is regulated by the state because marriage goes beyond a loving commitment made by two adults. Marriage does not revolve around the married couple, but instead around the family unit that is produced and the lineage it creates. The traditional definition of marriage endures because it ensures the best environment for children and cements the family as the building block of society, a fact that is also a basic tenant of the Catholic faith. Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation writes,
“Marriage is society’s least restrictive means of ensuring the well-being of children. State recognition of marriage protects children by encouraging men and women to commit to each other and take responsibility for their children.”
Despite these well-articulated arguments by conservatives and Catholics alike, we are losing the argument in popular culture. Younger generations have largely sided with the redefinition of marriage because, again, they respond to feeling more than logic. The secular left has succeeded with clever hashtags, memes, and pride parades in portraying the religious right as a collection of bigoted haters. The media, popular culture, and even the federal government have succeeded in redefining marriage and continue to preach that the influence of Catholics believing in traditional, procreative marriage is dead. And if you could eliminate a legitimate fact-based theory promoted by an entire religion purely by deceiving the nations youth, the media, popular culture, and the federal government would be right.
But you can’t, and I’m proof.
I am a 20 year old Catholic female and I believe marriage is a union of one man and one woman. I hold this belief because gay-marriages have no procreative capabilities and the best environment for children is in a home with a mother and father — a fact that is affirmed by my Catholic faith. Additionally, gay marriage activists are not seeking to be included into the marriage institution, they are seeking to redefine it. I have used rational, logical thinking to deduce that a redefinition of marriage would have adverse affects on the family unit, children, and ultimately, society as a whole.
Though I am sitting at the reject side of the millennial cafeteria, I am not alone.
There are countless young conservative, Catholic, and non-bigoted voices across the United States that still believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling. They have rejected incessant attempts by popular culture to sway them on the side of emotion in favor of knowledge and faith. They have stood by their principles during what is arguably the largest assault on the Catholic Church in recent US history. And they have disproven the root theory of gay marriage propaganda.
The Supreme Court has legalized gay marriage, but it is feeling rather than fact to think that the ruling will silence thousands of Catholic millennials.