Mike Huckabee gets active in the Proposition 8 campaign - on the “yes” side, naturally – and explains that the “purpose of marriage is not for you to be happy:”
Changing the definition of marriage would be like making Mona Lisa blond or touching up her smile, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Sunday morning in Newbury Park.
The former Arkansas governor and Southern Baptist preacher spoke from the pulpit of Calvary Chapel Thousand Oaks in two services focused on Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He told about 1,000 people that marriage was created and defined by God, just as the Mona Lisa was created by Leonardo da Vinci.
"God doesn't want me to take my brush and paint over his masterpiece," he said … "The purpose of marriage is not for you to be happy," Huckabee said. "The purpose of marriage is so God can teach us how to love, like he loves us."
Speaking of couples who are not happy about the current state of marriage in California,
Last month, Rachel Bird exchanged vows with Gideon Codding in a church wedding in front of family and friends. As far as Bird is concerned, she is a bride.
To the state of California, however, she is either "Party A" or "Party B."
Those are the terms that have replaced "bride" and "groom" on the state's new gender-neutral marriage licenses. And to Bird and Codding, that is unacceptable.
"We are traditionalists – we just want to be called bride and groom," said Bird, 25, who works part time for her father's church. "Those words have been used for generations and now they just changed them."
Bird says her crusade is “personal – not religious,” but she getting solid support from her father, Doug Bird, pastor of Roseville's Abundant Life Fellowship, who is now sending out letters to his congregation and fellow pastors urging them to join the fight: "I would encourage you to refuse to sign marriage licenses with 'Party A' and 'Party B. If ever there was a time for the people of the United States to stand up and let their voices be heard – this is that time."
Why exactly is Bird so upset about the change?
"We just feel that our rights have been violated," she said.
To some, the couple's stand may seem frivolous. But others believe "bride" and "groom" are terms that are too important for the state to set aside.
"Those who support (same-sex marriage) say it has no impact on heterosexuals," said Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute. "This debunks that argument."
So there you go: treating gays equally must be stopped in the name of protecting the more important rights of straight people to be referred to as “bride” and “groom” on their legal paperwork.
