Same-sex marriage rattles nuclear family

In the April 14 letter “No reason to fear same-sex marriage,” the author resurrects the familiar and stale “this is all natural, wholesome and harmless” argument used ad nauseam by the same-sex marriage advocates. The second paragraph proclaims the absence of any apocalyptic outcome erupting in the elapsed year since they got their way in court.

Of course, no one has rationally suggested any such occurrence. The letter is fatuous and condescending and misses the essential point: the long-term consequences.

To illustrate, consider the question raised in the author's final paragraph. The “next debate” probably will center on same-sex couples, now intoxicated with their success in bulldozing their way through the court system, soon clamoring for full rights to rear children. We frankly lack generations of longitudinal data on the societal outcomes of legions of children raised saying “I don't have a daddy but my two mommies … .” (And its gender-reversed counterpart).

Abundant research exists, however, on the detrimental effects resulting from loss of strong father or nurturing mother in the family unit.

This is a bigger issue than simply accommodating the feel-good impulses of two friends of the same sex innocently wanting to share living space.

The same-sexers are blithely demanding that we upend the primacy of a bedrock institution - the classical nuclear family - that has capably served human growth and development probably as long as there have been humans.

This is a “fools rush in” moment. And there is abundant reason to fear.

Dale Fitzgibbons

Cedar Rapids