Children in the “Gay Marriage” Crosshairs        

By J. Matt Barber

You've probably heard the relativist line that goes something like this: "Gay marriage won't hurt anyone. Live and let live, already!"

Well, don't buy it for a minute.

With its recent 4-3 opinion – which arrogantly presumed to redefine the millennia-old definition of legitimate marriage – the California Supreme Court daftly divined that the framers of the California Constitution intended – all along, I guess – that Patrick Henry really had a constitutional right to "marry" Henry Patrick. In so doing, four black-robed Dr. Frankensteins have loosed that paradoxical abomination tagged "same-sex marriage" on the countryside.

Abomination, you say? Isn't that a bit strong?

Nope. God used it. And I'll give just one example of many as to why He did. Keep in mind, though: If California voters fail to pass a constitutional amendment in November to undo this extremist act of judicial social engineering, we can expect thousands more examples just like it.

Virginia resident Lisa Miller, mother of 6-year-old Isabella Miller, was involved in homosexuality for a short time. Thankfully, she found freedom from the destructive "gay" lifestyle – as so many others have done – through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and, along with Isabella, is now a Christian.

For the past five years or so, Lisa and Isabella have been trying to live their lives in peace at home in Virginia. But unfortunately, they've been unable to do so, as Lisa's dark past has come back to haunt them. They've been the target of a vicious legal attack by militant homosexual activists that places Vermont's civil union laws ("gay marriage" by another name) directly at odds with the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, Virginia's Marriage Affirmation Act and the Virginia Constitution.

Outrageously, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in March that Lisa must share custody of her own daughter with Janet Jenkins, a woman who was, for a brief time, Lisa's lesbian "civil partner." Jenkins is entirely unrelated to Isabella and, for the most part, is a total stranger to the little girl. Although Jenkins is neither a biological parent nor an adoptive parent, Vermont's highest court determined that – because of a brief "civil union" from a weekend jaunt to Vermont back in 2000 – Jenkins, who hadn't seen Isabella since she was little over a year old, must be granted "parental" rights and visitation.

Little Isabella – who is both terrified by this stranger and understandably confused by her bizarre lifestyle – has suffered tremendous emotional trauma as a result. There are even concerns about her physical safety.

But it gets much worse. Because Christianity is biblically incompatible with unrepentant homosexuality, and since Lisa teaches Isabella God's express design for human sexuality (one man, one woman within the bonds of marriage), Jenkins has claimed in the past that Lisa is an unfit parent. Precisely because Lisa is a Christian, Jenkins has essentially argued that she's not fit to raise her very own daughter.

But it gets worse yet. On June 18, in an act that can only be described as pure evil, Jenkins' attorneys filed a "Motion for Transfer of Both Sole Legal and Physical [Custody]" of Isabella to Janet Jenkins. Yes, you read that right. This unrelated, near perfect stranger and her single-minded homosexual activist attorneys are trying to permanently rip this horrified child from her mother's loving embrace as a sacrifice to the gods of postmodern homo-fascism. Unfortunately, with the history of this Vermont court, the motion may well be granted.

Still, there is a silver lining to this tragic story. Attorneys with Liberty Counsel, the Christian civil liberties law firm representing Lisa and Isabella Miller, have filed an action in Virginia asking the commonwealth to respect its Marriage Affirmation Act, the federal DOMA and Virginia's constitution, which stipulates that Virginia "shall not create or recognize" "civil unions" or "same-sex marriages" from other states, nor can it recognize rulings which stem from such "unions" (such as Vermont's custody ruling).

This pits the laws of Vermont directly against the laws of Virginia. If Virginia does the right thing and tells Vermont to keep its "civil unions" to itself, the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately have to resolve the conflict.

But on a larger scale, Lisa and Isabella's tragic story demonstrates that it's all too often children who are ultimately victimized by state-recognized immorality. It's the children who suffer when adults selfishly depart from God's intended design for human sexuality and marriage – as reaffirmed by Christ's teachings in the New Testament – and enter into counterfeit homosexual "civil unions" or "same-sex marriages."

So-called same-sex "parenting" willfully deprives a child of his or her mother or father and is fundamentally immoral for that reason (among others). We know conclusively that it's best for children to be raised with both mom and dad. It's not always possible, but even with single parenting, there's always the chance that the other half – an adoptive mother or father – will enter the picture.

We need only rely on common sense, but the preponderance of research has proven that a mother and a father each possess unique qualities central in helping to formulate who a child ultimately becomes.

While standing before the Courts of Justice Committee of the Virginia Senate in 2005, Robert Knight, former Director of the Culture and Family Institute, testified to the following:

“In 2001, a team of pro-homosexual researchers from the University of Southern California did a meta-analysis of "gay parenting" studies and published a refreshingly honest article in American Sociological Review, "(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?"

“The authors concluded that, yes, studies show that girls are more likely to "be sexually adventurous and less chaste," including being more likely to try lesbianism, and that boys are more likely to have "fluid" conceptions of gender roles, and that researchers should stop trying to cover this up in the hopes of pursuing a pro-homosexual agenda. The researchers said, in effect: Some of the kids are more likely to turn out gay or bisexual, but so what?”

Ultimately, though, it all boils down to simple biology. It's impossible for a "gay" pair to have a child without utilizing the mechanics of natural procreation. They have no choice but to bring an opposite-sex third party into the picture. A child like Isabella can't really have two mommies (or three mommies; Jenkins is reportedly in a new lesbian relationship). She can have only one mommy and a daddy (who in this case was an anonymous sperm donor).

Jenkins and others like her are laboring under an unfortunate delusion. They're not mom, mommy, mother or mum. They're not even "step-mom." The closest thing they are to family is, well, kind of like mommy's fun friend who made you call her Aunt Meg.

But none of this matters to today's postmodern moral relativists. They have a specific agenda in mind: to completely redefine reality-based marriage and family into oblivion … no matter who gets hurt in the process.

And Lisa and little Isabella are just two of the latest victims of that agenda. Unfortunately, if this perversion of justice in California is left to stand, and if Virginia chooses not to rebuff Vermont's outrageous ruling in the Lisa Miller case, there will be many, many more.

Matt Barber is Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel and Associate Dean with Liberty University School of Law.  Send comments to Matt at jmattbarber@comcast.net. 

By Matt Barber Click here for bio and archived articles