Loudoun Connection
September 20, 2006
By Tim Buchholz, Ashburn
Susie Chapman, in her letter of Aug. 30, seems to believe that voting for the so-called “marriage amendment” will do something to “protect marriage” and magically create more families in which children will be raised by married mothers and fathers.
It will do nothing of the sort. The reality is that many children are being raised by single parents, divorced parents in blended families and by same-sex couples, either through adoption or from a previous relationship. The proposed amendment wouldn’t change that. It would do nothing but hurt these children, by threatening the ability of the adults in their lives to provide them with necessities like health care and the security of enforceable custody agreements. Ms. Chapman sounds all too willing to sacrifice the needs of these actual children in the service of some fictional ideal of marriage. That’s disgraceful and irresponsible.