Battles For ‘gay Rights’

by PRASHER, G. | Category: Focus | Feb 2006

In many countries of the Western World agitation continues by so-called ‘gay’ couples to be granted the same rights as married men and women.

For example in February 2004 a court ruled that same-sex couples could marry in the State of Massachussetts. This turned the issue into a national controversy in the United States, and featured prominently in the presidential election campaigns in November of that year. George W. Bush received strong support from conservative Christians who advocated a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage. Initiatives banning such marriage were on the ballot in eleven States and passed in every one. But the religious groups felt strong resentment when George W. Bush seemed to indicate after his re-election as president that he would not press the Senate to pass a ban on gay marriages. Sensing this resentment the Administration moved quickly to declare that the anti-gay marriage amendment did remain a priority; but such an amendment would require support by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and three-quarters of the State legislatures, so the prospects remain uncertain and controversy rages on.

The position is different in Britain, where the Civil Partnership Act came into effect in December 2005. This makes provision for same-sex couples to register their partnership with a Registrar appointed by the local authority, and to share benefits similar to those of married people, such as:

- employment and pension benefits;

- recognition for immigration and nationality purposes;

- a duty to provide reasonable maintenance for your civil partner and any children of the family;

- civil partners to be assessed in the same way as spouse for child support;

- equitable treatment for the purpose of life insurance.

Some gay couples feel dissatisfied with the new law on the ground that it doesn’t actually allow them to marry. Others are confident that official registration of their partnership will further general acceptance of same-sex unions. As one couple put it: "Until now if you’re gay you’ve always been a second-class citizen. We paid our taxes, but were denied rights."

Political mileage is therefore being gained by the pro-gay lobby through emphasis on basic democratic rights. This approach by-passes the fundamental questions of moral right or wrong as viewed from a scriptural perspective. Yet to the Christian believer the primary issue is the dismissal of God’s Word as of no relevance in today’s world. This reflects the attitudes described in Psalm 2:1-3, where rulers and people take counsel ‘against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us break their bonds in pieces, and cast away their cords from us."‘ In an increasingly secular society political expediency more readily prevails.

Against the background of defiant departure from divine standards which is so evident in the world around us, how valuable and precious to God must be careful regard for those standards. The apostle Paul prayed for the disciples in Thessalonica that their hearts might be established ‘blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints’ (1 Thes.3:13).

He reminded the Corinthian disciples that some of them had before their conversion to Christ been ‘male prostitutes’ or ‘homosexual offenders’ (1 Cor.6:9 NIV): ‘But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (verse 11). Such had been the power of the gospel to transform lives and break the grip of addiction to moral failures. The gospel is still God’s power unto salvation to everyone who believes, salvation not only from deserved eternal judgement, but also from the tyranny of sinful practices deriving from the desires of the flesh and of the mind (Eph.2:3).

Scripture clearly warns that in the last days ‘grievous times shall come when evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse’ (2 Tim.3:1,13 RV). How vitally important it is that ‘denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works’.

PRASHER, G. | Feb 2006
Focus