Letters | 24 March 2012

Unmentionable question

Sir: Peter Hitchens is no doubt right that the collapse of marriage among heterosexuals is a more serious matter than extending marriage to same-sex couples (‘The gay marriage trap’, 17 March). The damage to the family started with the removal of stigma from having children out of wedlock and divorce on demand; and the redefinition came with same-sex adoption, which in human terms was more radical than same-sex marriage, because there were no long-term studies of what the psychological effect on the adopted children would be. Beyond the issue of the effect on society of the extension of gay rights, however, is the question as to whether conjugal sex and gay sex are morally equivalent. I suspect that most of those who oppose same-sex marriage believe that they are not but dare not say so for fear of being deemed bigoted, judgmental and homophobic. Yet this has been the view of the religious and irreligious alike from antiquity until the present day.