Two articles about marriage, sexuality, and society.

Lorne Gunter had a provocative (for the National Post) article in the National Post the other day entitled " Heterosexuals are the greatest threat to marriage."
He posited that in the 5 years since same sex marriage has been legalized in Canada, the stature of the insitution of marriage has stayed the same. It is so, because as he puts it, "Heterosexuals have already hollowed out the institution of marriage so thoroughly that it no longer means what it once did..."
His contention is that the government has a role in promoting stable families, as evidence has shown that stable two parent families lead a child to a better outcome than he/she would otherwise. However, the introduction of common law marriage (of which there are 500 000 common law families, compared to 6000 homosexual ones with kids) changed all that. Children living in common law family homes have higher rates of crime, ergo the government should not have let common law marriages.
Since they did, it becomes unjustifiable to deny homosexuals the right of marriage. Also, they are by far a smaller group than common law marriage families. Therefore he feels it is hypocritical that heterosexuals demonize homosexuals for destroying the meaning of marriage, when they in fact are doing a much better job of it.
The subtext behind his article seems to indicate, that if it was up to him, no common law marriages or homosexual marriages would be allowed. That's kind of strange I guess. Interesting nevertheless.

I saw a second article in Haaretz, in which a group of Orthodox rabbis and educators signed a statement of principle saying, "Jews with homosexual orientations or same sex-attractions should be welcomed as full members of the synagogue and school community."
This is obviously a controversial topic in the Orthodox community, and really states that it is better to bring people into the fold, rather than ostracizing them.
"The question or cause of one's sexual orientation is irrelevant "to our obligation to treat human beings with same-sex attractions and orientations with dignity and respect," the signatories said."
I think overall I have to agree with that sentiment. As easy as it is to push people away for who they are, I feel it is better to do the more difficult thing and accept them. The Orthodox community does not treat people who cheat on their wives, steal, or do a whole host of other things as badly as they treat the gay community. Obviously there seems to be some sort of cultural component for why gays are treated in this way.
The signatories say they won't officiate marriages between same sex couples, as that would be against Halakah.
However, I think this statement is a good compromise position for the Orthodox community too take.