The California Marriage Proposition

Elder Hafen talked last night about protecting traditional families, in light of what's going on in California right now. He read some things from an interesting study.

Apparently, in France, not exactly the most conservative of nations, they have voted against allowing same sex marriage, based on a study that they've done. This study was done by a multi-party commission from the French National Assembly, who spent a year of work and travel to different countries, and cultures, and talking to people all over the world. It has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, in fact Pres Chirac said once that Secularism is the national religion of France. Elder Hafen quoted some things from that study that I really liked. I'll just post a couple of them, then I'll give you a link where you can read an English language summary of the study, the entire study is only available in French. In fact, just in case anyone reads French, I'll give you the link to the study in French.

1. Articles 3, 7, 9, 18, and 21 of the New York U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989) set out the rights of children. The commission stresses that "to systematically give preference to adult aspirations over respect for these rights is not possible any more." The commission deems it essential to enshrine article 3 -"In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration." - into French law to help guide judges, individuals and other institutions. Children represent the future of society. They "must not suffer from conditions imposed upon them by adults". "The best interests of the child must prevail over adult freedoms... even including the lifestyle choices of parents". The legislator is not obligated to adopt the most permissive foreign legislation.

2. ...marriage offers the greatest protection and benefits for children and society. "Marriage is not merely the contractual recognition of the love within a couple. It is a framework with rights and obligations conceived in order to welcome the child and provide for his harmonious development." Thus, marriage is the only structure reserved strictly for heterosexual couples.
Because of the filiative nature of marriage (the fact of being the child of certain parents), it is essential that the male-female nature of marriage be preserved. "This corresponds to a biological reality, that same-sex couples are naturally infertile, and to an imperative, that of helping the child develop his/her identity as necessarily coming from the union of a man and a woman."

3. "The purpose of adoption is not to provide a child to a family but rather provide a family to a child ...Given the original trauma of his personal history, the adopted child requires the judicial and emotional security that only married parents can provide."

The English language summery can be found here. The original French study is found here.