Gay Marriages - Aquinas Style
Uploaded by Brent R Goodin on May 09, 2004
Question I
First Article
WHETHER THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSSETTS SHOULD RECOGNIZE GAY MARRIAGES?
We proceed thus to the First Article:-
Objection 1. It seems that the Bible, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, the majority of Protestants, and most major cultures are opposed to gay marriages. Marriage, as defined by the Code of Canon Law, “is the matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring…(CCC*, 1601)” Marriage is a bond between a man and a woman; therefore, gay marriage, the union of two individuals of the same sex, is intrinsically sacrilegious and should not be recognized by the church. Furthermore, men and women were created in God’s image and by virtue of their different genitalia they fit together as would a puzzle. “That is why man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh (Gen 2:24).” Moreover, the vocation of a married couple and of humankind is to “be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28);” thus, homosexual relationships are an affront to the Creator’s plan with regards to marriage, family, and the survival of humankind.
Obj. 2. Moreover, Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychoanalyst, says homosexuality is wrong. He maintains that every person has libidinal impulses, basic instincts, which are kept in check by the ego and superego. However, the anomaly of homosexuality can only be described as an inverted libido, a turning in of the libido on to an object like itself. Freud does not look upon homosexuality kindly; he sees it more as a defect in sexual development.
Obj. 3. Further, when God wills something, it is willed for eternity. According to St. Augustine, God lacks nothing and through his ‘generative love’ he created mankind; there is no way to repay God; one may only give praise and worship to show one’s appreciation of God. Marriage is one of the sacraments instituted by God, by which humans make apparent to God their inward grace and their love for Him. God made no mistake in His delineation of marriage and its purpose. Matrimony cannot be fulfilled by homosexuals.
On the contrary, Elizabeth Birch, director of the gay rights organization Human Rights...