J. Peter Sartain, the Roman Catholic
archbishop of Seattle, on Monday warned Washington lawmakers that gay
marriage poses a “grave challenge” to the common good.
According to the Catholic News
Agency, Sartain testified against the bill during a Senate
committee hearing held on Tuesday.
Supporters of making Washington the
seventh state to legalize gay marriage – and the first on the West
Coast, not counting California which briefly legalized the union in
2008 – say they have the votes to approve the measure. Opponents
have vowed to put the issue before voters.
Sartain said that because “only the
union of a man and a woman can generate new life” no “other human
relationship is its equivalent.”
The bill, he said, “ignores the
origin, purpose and value of marriage to individuals, families and
society.”
“Marriage makes a contribution to the
common good of society unlike any other relationship, through the
procreation, rearing and education of children,” he said. “I
urge you to uphold the definition of marriage as the union of one man
and one woman.”
(Related: Washington
witness says gay marriage would pollute social environment.)