{"id":1560462,"date":"2022-07-19T07:50:46","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T11:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1560462"},"modified":"2022-07-19T07:50:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T11:50:54","slug":"defenders-of-traditional-marriage-should-follow-the-pro-life-playbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/defenders-of-traditional-marriage-should-follow-the-pro-life-playbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Defenders Of Traditional Marriage Should Follow The Pro-Life Playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdefenders-of-traditional-marriage-should-follow-the-pro-life-playbook%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1560462&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/17306458171_b143db63b8_k.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on the <em>Dobbs<\/em> case overturning <em>Roe vs. Wade<\/em> was the most refreshing and long-fought conservative culture war win in our lifetime. The pro-life activists responsible for this victory have established the path by which campaigns for social change must be patterned. That\u2019s especially true for those still willing to fight the battle for marriage.<\/p>\n<p>There are myriad similarities between the 1973 SCOTUS decision legalizing abortion, and their 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage. Both decisions inflicted severe damage on the fundamental rights of children. <em>Roe<\/em> violates a child\u2019s right to life. <em>Obergefell<\/em> is a subversive violation of a child\u2019s right to their mother and father.<\/p>\n<p>Many conservatives fail to ride the \u201clove is love\u201d thought train to the redefinition of parenthood station. Before <em>Obergefell<\/em>, marriage and parenthood laws, almost exclusively, related to the well-being of children. In fact, the only reason the state has traditionally had any interest in marriage is that most marriages produce children. Without marriage, children are raised fatherless and experience <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/the-greatest-battle-of-our-time\/\">lifelong<\/a> struggles. Making men and women interchangeable in parenting results in the violation of a <a href=\"https:\/\/whatwouldyousay.org\/do-childrens-rights-override-parental-rights\/\">child\u2019s right to the two people responsible for their existence<\/a>. Unfortunately, pro-traditional marriage advocates failed to establish this fighting <em>Obergefell<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Both pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage arguments focus on adult desire. Feelings are centerstage in all pro-choice arguments \u2013 they\u2019re not ready to parent, abortion made their <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/01\/06\/no-michelle-williams-women-dont-need-to-kill-their-kids-to-get-ahead\/\">Golden Globe<\/a> possible, and they\u2019ve got a devastating prenatal diagnosis. Feelings drive the arguments for gay marriage as well, gay and lesbian adults suffering, their \u201ccoming out\u201d backstory, desperately wanting a family, and their longing for a State-validated partnership.<\/p>\n<p>Necessarily, conversations around both issues eschewed focus from the children. Pro-abortionists disavow the humanity of the unborn, resorting to \u201cclump of cells\u201d talking points or \u201creproductive healthcare\u201d euphemisms. Despite our <a href=\"https:\/\/sblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/14-556_Heather_Barwick_and_Katy_Faust.pdf\">amicus brief intended <\/a>to draw the court\u2019s attention to the suffering of children with gay parents, <em>Obergefell<\/em> proponents successfully argued that \u201cmarriage has <em>nothing<\/em> to do with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These SCOTUS rulings were decided on the basis that adult desires are rights; mothers possess the \u201cright to choose,\u201d and LGBT folks have a \u201cright to marry.\u201d But when adult desire masquerades as a right, children are forced to sacrifice their legitimate rights.<\/p>\n<h2>Fighting with Child-Centric Goals<\/h2>\n<p>The similarities of these two cases illustrate that those seeking to rebuild a flourishing marriage culture should follow the winning tactics of the pro-life movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our focus must be on children. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/live-action-marches-for-life-implores-the-nation-to-love-them-both\/\">Pro-lifers<\/a> empathize with women in unplanned pregnancies, and they didn\u2019t allow adult feelings to take center stage, they always focused the conversation on the child. When faced with statements like, \u201cI\u2019m not prepared to parent,\u201d the pro-life response was \u201cWhen does human life begin?\u201d Reorienting the conversation toward the child\u2019s right to life kept the spotlight on the real victim of bad personal and policy decisions.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for effective marriage arguments. Pre-<em>Obergefell<\/em>, the religious right wailed about the horrors gay marriage would inflict on \u2026 them. \u201cWe\u2019d have to bake a cake, arrange flowers, or photograph a same-sex wedding!\u201d The threat to religious liberty is, of course, deadly serious, but religious adults are not the victims of <em>Obergefell<\/em>. Children are.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of <em>Obergefell<\/em>, most are loathe to even acknowledge that children <em>should<\/em> be raised by a mother and father. According to the political zeitgeist, such blasphemy would constitute discrimination. Thus, traditional marriage advocates must shift tactics, we must make heart-changing, pro-marriage arguments based on the rights of children. Those who want to restore a flourishing marriage culture must empathize with gay adults, those struggling in their marriage, or considering sperm donation in the absence of Mr. Right, while remaining focused on the fact a child\u2019s right to their mother and father supersedes an adult\u2019s sadness, struggles or loneliness.<\/p>\n<p>If we are to see a Dobbs-like victory for marriage, we must become educated. It was the proliferation of hundreds of pro-life organizations which resulted in well-informed warriors capable of rebutting common pro-choice talking points like \u201cmy body, my choice\u201d and \u201cit might be a human, but is it a person?\u201d counterpoints.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/\">Them Before Us<\/a> is the only non-profit devoted to defending children\u2019s right to their mother and father. To win back public opinion and we need more organizations equipping pro-marriage warriors who are equally comfortable fielding questions like:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOpposition to gay marriage is just like opposition to interracial marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No, children of <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/marriage-matters\/\">interracial couples<\/a> enjoy maternal and paternal love and two rich heritages. Children of gay couples lose maternal or paternal love and half their heritage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cIf you really think family is so important then you must be against divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Correct, <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Divorce-Handout.pdf\">no-fault divorce<\/a> is the original re-definition of marriage and it has devastated the American family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cKids don\u2019t need moms and dads, they just need to be safe and loved.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Statistically, <a href=\"https:\/\/thembeforeus.com\/biology-matters\/\">the safest home<\/a> for a child is that of their married biological mother and father, so if you truly believe children should be safe and loved, then you must advocate for traditional marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Proponents of both abortion and gay marriage often appeal to \u201cedge cases,\u201d outliers like rape and incest or, \u201cso you\u2019d rather have a child languish in an orphanage than <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/03\/04\/christians-who-think-gay-adoption-isnt-ideal-should-start-adopting-kids-themselves\/\">adopted by a gay couple<\/a>?\u201d A solid pro-life and pro-marriage response requires readiness to respond to the rare exception argument. Just as the one percent of rape cases do not negate a child\u2019s right to life, the slim instances of a same-sex couple being the only option for an adoption do not justify rewriting parenthood law.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, we need to follow the two-prong approach of <em>changing hearts <\/em>and <em>changing laws<\/em>. Pro-life advocates walked the walk when it came to supporting women in unplanned pregnancies. They changed hearts by volunteering at pregnancy resource centers and outdoing their liberal counterparts as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/research\/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-adoption\/\">adoptive and foster parents<\/a>. They also had savvy legal minds searching for cracks in the law to limit pre-birth murder.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the pro-traditional marriage crowd must change hearts by doing the hard work of keeping their own families intact, enfolding into their orbit the father-hungry neighbor boy with two moms, and proving that the pro-marriage position isn\u2019t grounded in animus by initiating a relationship with our LGBT neighbor. We also must incept creative legal action that will incentivize men to commit to the women they impregnate and thus restore the original function of the institution of marriage.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, enough with cowardice. Pro-lifers were so confident that they were fighting for the most vulnerable that they were willing to pay the social cost. The pro-marriage crowd has been cowed, whispering and apologizing for their position in fear of being labeled \u201canti-gay\u201d if they speak up on Facebook or at Thanksgiving dinner. No victory for marriage is possible until we can clearly articulate that marriage is a social justice issue for children; that we are failing to defend children when we <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/31\/churches-that-bless-gay-marriage-victimize-children\/\">fail to defend marriage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The one major difference between the pro-life fight and the pro-marriage fight is child victims of abortion didn\u2019t live to tell how they\u2019ve been harmed. Child victims of bad marriage policy do. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Them-Before-Us-Childrens-Movement\/dp\/1642935964\">Their stories<\/a> will be the most powerful tool in the fight to change hearts and change laws.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Katy Faust and Stacy Manning are co-authors of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1642935964\">&#8220;Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children\u2019s Rights Movement\u201d<\/a> and are currently writing \u201cHow to Raise Conservative Kids in a Woke City.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on the Dobbs case overturning Roe vs. Wade was the most refreshing and long-fought conservative culture war win in our lifetime. The pro-life activists responsible for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":612,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1560462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1560462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1560462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1560462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1560462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}