GAY MARRIAGE, ANTI-SMACKING and similar matters

I have never thought very much about Family First and until today knew little about them.  You could say that the threat of their de-registration by the Charities Registration Board had flown very much below my particular radar.

However, my interest in them has grown throughout the day and at present I would be inclined to produce an appropriate banner and demonstrate on their behalf if necessary.    There have been mutterings that their profile has been raised recently because of their `controversial’ views on same sex marriage and the anti-smacking law.   And these views seem to form part of the key reason for the threat of de-registration, being a little too contentious for a charitable organization in this day and age. 

Well you have to admit that such beliefs are  awkward and not those that you would be keen to spread far and wide;  better by far to keep quiet or change the subject.    All of us are well aware of the opinions we are expected to hold aren’t we?

When the anti-smacking law was first proposed my own reaction was one of resigned amusement.  Surely this must be a joke?   I was glad that my own children had grown beyond that general definition, one in particular who, without the threat of substantial painful repercussions for some of his behaviours might well have ended up on Death Row if indeed we had such a thing.    Generally speaking, however, I am not in favour of thrashing children within an inch of their lives and have only been known to venture in that direction under extreme circumstances.  

Summing up on  no smacking:  I did not believe for a moment that the idea would catch on and so largely I ignored the progress of the proposal.

Then Gay Marriage burst upon the scene and this time I’m ashamed to say that I laughed out loud.  Gay WHAT?    I admit that I should have known better because for one thing we all know that it is not safe to find anything amusing in two people who love each other making a genuine commitment one to another.   On the contrary such a situation is both saintly and righteous. 

And here I have to insist that I have nothing whatsoever against women who are physically attracted to women or men physically attracted to men.   Live and let live is my philosophy and quite honestly with my particular background I am not in a position to be among the first to cast stones of any shape or size.

But……marriage? …..really?  On this occasion, I counselled myself, good sense will prevail.  Marriage after all was on the way out for young  modern couples.  Why on earth would Gay people so desperately wish to take on the ties of boring old wedlock?   They already had Civil Unions after all  -  and without much argument from right wing bigots such as myself and my husband, both lapsed Catholics,  or even very elderly Auntie Vi in Dunedin who went to Mass on a daily basis. 

Could it be, I asked myself,  simply because whilst masquerading under a veil of  self- righteousness and reverence the high-jacking of marriage would cause  even the most lapsed and ungodly amongst us a high degree of distaste?   Was it possible that the motivation  for the move  might be more aligned to that of those  fearsome female chauvanists  in the nineteen nineties who preached breastfeeding like missionaries, baring mammary glands as publicly as possible and daring diners, commuters and worshippers to criticize them?

I’m very likely to be quite wrong about all this of course but these nagging little notions are often hard to dislodge.  In the interim I am almost tempted to join Family First.