Just an Opinion

Today’s Arizona Republic had an interesting point of view in the Opinion Section of the paper.

The opinion of Derek McClintock of Phoenix went as follows:

 

“I read with great interest Cathi Herrod's viewpoint on the importance of marriage as a "fundamental building block of our society" ("Support of tried-and-true tradition of man-woman nuptials will grow," Viewpoints, Sunday).

 

With the great weight Herrod attaches to this institution and her obvious expertise in citing "study after study" regarding wealth creation and child rearing, I have a simple question.

 

Would not the greatest threat to this institution be divorce and not expanding the boundaries of the current definition of marriage to include a small minority of the population?

I would like to propose an innovative solution that not only includes the small gay and lesbian population who want to legally recognize their relationships as others are free to do, but also severely penalizes anyone divorcing themselves from these marriage contracts since doing so poses such a threat to the very foundations of our republic.

I would think that libertarians would welcome such a fiscally responsible solution. And this actually has the added benefit of not being a thinly veiled argument of exclusion and prejudice.

-- Derek McClintock, Phoenix”

Now I respect everyone’s right to have an opinion and especially a religious opinion such as this but I don’t think this was completely thought through.  While I am a firm believer in the sanctity of marriage and that all marriages if they can be saved should be when they come upon troubled times but there are scenarios when divorce is the only solution and in those times the person that files for divorce should not be penalized.  I of course am speaking of times when domestic violence rears its ugly head.

 

Is it fair to fine or penalize a woman or a man who is trying to escape violence?  Is it fair for a man or woman who only option is divorce in order to protect the children from an attacker who is a parent?  Should someone be forced to stay in a marriage were one of the parents is sexually molesting the children?

I am in agreement with religions that believe that marriage is serious business and should be saved but I must part ways with a dogma that would force someone to stay in an abusive and possibly fatal situation.  A persons’ safety and that of the children should be out and fortunately the legislator and judiciary of the State of Arizona agrees with me.