Same-sex marriage a slippery slope (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Same-sex marriage a slippery slope

1:32pm Tuesday 13th March 2012 in Margo Grimshaw column By Margo Grimshaw, Lancashire Telegraph columnist

WHEN someone says ‘I’m getting married’, they have made a big decision.

It’s one that many make – but why? Is it for love, sex, or to share expenses?

No! For all these things can be had without getting married.

So, as a rule, it’s in order to make a commitment, a statement in front of family and friends, and before God.

So why am I feeling concerned, threatened even, that it is now being mooted to offer this sacred ceremony to couples of the same sex?

I can see David Cameron’s reasoning. He is thinking that if two people love each other, and wish to take it further, why not?

Well, I feel that to change the traditions that have been with us for more than 2,000 years might be attacking, and eroding, our social structure.

For no matter what our faiths are – Christian, Muslim, or whatever – most people try to adhere to the core values of the teachings absorbed as children.

Don’t get me wrong. I am in agreement with civil partnerships.

I feel they are both beneficial and essential, in order that couples feel emotionally, and financially, secure, and give their relationship public recognition.

But, marriage?

Now this is a different kettle of fish.

Marriage cements the family, it ensures that children are secure, brought up with a mum and a dad, and the close family member network that usually follows.

If we start on the slippery path of changing the basic tenets of our national family life and social structure, then who knows what will be attacked next?

*A ‘Knight to Remember’, at the Thwaites Red Brick Theatre, on Sunday night was certainly that. Grand entertainment, great company, plus a sing-a-long – a perfect night.

I was just sorry that Bill, who’s still in hospital, couldn’t be there, but I’m trying to remember a couple of the jokes to tell him.

I was at a meeting the other night, and I thought isn’t it funny that when someone says ‘now that is a good question’, the question being asked is usually better than the answer we get.