HB 437 was an honest, honorable attempt to recognize one man/one woman marriage as a necessary relationship in society. Proponents of genderless marriage point to polls, but today they rejected an attempt to get the only poll that counts: a question on November’s ballot so that all voters can decide.
Ultimately, it will be our children that will pay the price for failing to pass HB 437. For instance, genderless marriage ends the biological link between parents and children. In the future, parenting will just become a contract between two people; the gender roles of a mom and a dad will be irrelevant. This violates the right of the child to know their biological mother and father.
There are also real long-term economic consequences to the breakdown of traditional marriage. Such costs include dependency of children on government services like Medicaid, increases in substance abuse, and an escalation of juvenile delinquency. These costs in New Hampshire have been conservatively calculated to be nearly $100 million a year and, nationally, the cost is $100 billion a year or $1 trillion over a decade.
Cornerstone is disappointed that these consequences of genderless marriage were not given their full consideration. Yet, this vote does not change the fundamentals of marriage anymore than a law that bans the force of gravity. Cornerstone will continue to bring the good news about genuine marriage between one man and one woman to any public discussion.
