Why my generation is wrong about gay marriage

"...if there is one major demographic change in western societies that can be linked to a large range of adverse consequences for many children and young people, it is the growth in the numbers of children who experience life in a family other than living with their two biological parents, at some point before the age of 15."

Additionally, a study by the American Witherspoon Institute Ten Principles on Marriage and the Public Good in 2008, which compiled the conclusions of dozens of the relevant sociological studies, found that children raised in intact homes by their wedded biological parents, taking into account other factors such as family income, fared best in terms of emotional health, educational achievement, and sexual development, to name just a few indicators.

Of course, some gay couples are better parents than some married heterosexual couples, but the principle remains that a child being raised by its biological parents is the ideal. It makes sense, therefore, for the government to recognise and encourage this, as it does currently by the institution of marriage.

The practical consequences of gay marriage for children and society would be long-term but still very concerning. It would change the institution of marriage from being centred around the production and well-being of children to being based on the self-fulfilment of adults. It would obscure the value of opposite-sex parenting as an ideal, taking away the special status marriage gives to the best arrangement for the upbringing of children. Society departing from the favourable norm in this way would adversely impact children, forcing the state to have a larger role in their welfare, such as in education and health.

The current definition of marriage acts as a bedrock of our society by recognising the intact, natural family for what we know to be the ideal. My generation may continue to be part of the gay marriage campaign well into the future, but thankfully Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, at least, are capable of standing up to the group think.