The End of Marriage

While plenty has been said about the effect that instituting civil unions between gay couples has on the country, our communities, our way of thinking, etc., less has been mentioned about the effect that gay civil unions have on heterosexual marriage. This may be because arguments in favor of civil unions are often shaped by the notion that the unions don’t have any real effect on anyone but the gay couples. Rob Vischer, writing for Mirror of Justice , wonders whether the institution of civil unions will result in the wholesale removal of the institution of marriage itself. He cites this report from a recent study on Cook County’s civil union law:

“Many of the other straight civil union pioneers have also said no to marriage—for themselves and as an institution . . . . They found dissatisfaction with the institution of marriage because of concerns with its historical assignment of roles, its connection to religion, and its unfairness to gay and lesbian couples. My own interviews with some of these same couples, who have rejected marriage and plunged into the shallower, murkier pool of the civil union, reflect a cohort prepared to take the wrecking ball to marriage itself.”

Vischer’s student Phil Steger has an interesting response to his question:

“It is possible that an increase of civil unions may actually strengthen the institution of marriage by distinguishing contractual partnerships made for mutual benefit from sacramental unions that bear witness to divine reality and provide a “school of love” (to borrow St. Benedict’s term) through which two people can labor toward holiness. People can then make a clear and conscious choice between the two, based on their actual intent and motive for joining their life with another person.”

Read more here .