I oppose ’same sex marriag’ and support the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. I will give you two lines of thought, one religious and one secular, as to why I supported SJR E .

As a Christian, I believe in the moral standards set forth by God through the teachings of the Bible. During the nineteenth century, American culture based its standards on a Judeo-Christian moral consensus. That moral consensus formed a foundation of values for the nation’s legal code, institutions of marriage and family, social customs, art and politics. The Ten Commandments, specifically affirm and protect marriage in the fifth commandment, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’

Marriage goes back to the real cradle of civilization where the first two humans were a man (Adam) and his wife, whom the man named Eve (i.e. ‘Life’ or ‘Living’), because she was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:30). Genesis also says .. . a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Now, let’s look at how some scholars of today answer the question of: What is marriage and its purpose? Canadian scholar Margaret A. Somerville says, ‘Through marriage our society marks out the relationship of two people who will together transmit human life to the next generation and nurture and protect that life.’ Anthropologist Kingsley Davis has said that the unique trait of what is commonly called marriage is social recognition and approval of a couple’s engaging in the bearing and rearing of children. Marriage scholar Maggie Gallagher states that ‘marriage across societies is a public physical union that creates kinship obligations and sharing of resources between men, women, and the children their union may produce.

Interestingly the following statement was made by Canadian scholar, Paul Nathanson, who is himself a homosexual. He said, ‘Because heterosexuality is directly related to both reproduction and survival, . .every human society has had to promote it actively . . . Heterosexuality is always fostered by a cultural norm that limits marriage to unions of men and women. He adds that “people are wrong in assuming that any society can do without it.’

Society today is falling into moral ambiguity and it is commonplace to hear, see and read via the news, television, radio and movies that ‘if it feels good, do it.’ Some of our most significant problems of today are moral in nature. So again, because marriage between a man and a woman has been legally recognized by many governments, religions and cultures for thousands of years, I co-sponsored Senator Cropsey’s SJR E to put that definition of marriage in Michigan’s Constitution.

Update April 2009: Valde Garcia was divorced less than a year after making this statement.