Yvette Cooper (12 October) shows how the debate over same-sex marriage is threatening to change the meaning of marriage in more ways than one.
Marriage is defined in law as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, yet twice in her article Ms Cooper reduces marriage to the status of a “long-term commitment”.
We all recognise that not all marriages last for life. The majority do, but not all. Nevertheless, when a man and a woman marry, they commit themselves to each other with the intention of staying together for life.
In legal terms, marriage is heterosexual, monogamous and lifelong. These three elements stand together. If the heterosexual character of marriage is discarded, the experience of other countries shows that its monogamous character immediately comes under threat. So, too, does its lifelong character, as Yvette Cooper has demonstrated.
Norman Wells
Director
Family Education Trust
Twickenham, Middlesex
Published in The Independent, 20 October 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letters-again-stockton-leads-the-world-8218915.html