Real equality must frame marriage debate

The voluntary, exclusive, lifelong relationship that involves the equality and union of both halves of humanity therefore represents the democratic principle itself. Only the equality of men and women can result in the actual human unity we describe as marriage. The most dramatic division in humanity becomes the source of its deepest unity.

Thirdly, the definition of marriage doesn't mention sex because the sexual unity of husband and wife cannot be understood separate from their overall personal unity - the free gift of the whole of their lives, including their future, to one another.

Aristotle said that the "barbarians" who treat women as slaves are themselves only fit to be ruled as slaves.

Only when sexual desire serves the common humanity of men and women and they are seen as equal persons, can human equality arise as a social principle. Look at other parts of the world today. Where women are suppressed, reduced to an appendage of a man or the State, or hidden from view, life is ugly and coarse, and democratic life is impossible. That changes when the law reflects the equality of the sexes in the unity of marriage, because it's the highest expression of human equality.

In marriage, husband and wife are a self-governing democracy, in and of themselves: different, equal, united. If there isn't a woman and a man in a marriage, it can't possibly reflect the equality of men and women, from which flows all other equalities, rights and freedoms. This is the real equality of marriage.

It is not only just, but necessary, for the political system founded on the principle that we are "all created equal", to recognise the inclusive nature of marriage between husband and wife above all other human relationships. This does not mean intolerance or hostility towards other relationships that exclude one biological half of humanity, as marriage is the very source of the right to domestic privacy that protects us all in our private lives. That right to privacy does not however mean that all our private actions should be recognised as exemplars of human equality.

Changing marriage will change our understanding of human equality and democratic principle, our highest common belief. The protection of Real Equality is the right reason to vote "No".