Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family
Institute (IFI) has denied the existence of married gay and lesbian
couples.
The IFI is among the at least nine
organizations forming the Coalition to Protect Children and Marriage,
the nascent coalition formed to lobby lawmakers against making
Illinois the 10th state to legalize gay marriage.
In a recent article titled Marriage
Is Not A Civil Right, Higgins, the Christian conservative
group's cultural analyst, argues that “there exists no such thing
as 'same-sex' marriage.”
“Although marriage licenses are being
issued by some state governments to homosexual couples, there are in
reality no homosexual marriages – never were, are not now, never
will be.”
“Marriage,” Higgins explains, “is
an institution ordained by God in Genesis ...”
“All societies throughout recorded
history have publicly recognized the institution of marriage as a
sexually complementary public institution. The government's
obligation is merely to recognize legally what marriage actually is.
The government has no business creating an entirely new – and
destructive – institution and then attaching to it the name of
marriage.”
Higgins goes on to explain that
marriage is not a civil right.
“Our civil rights are very specific
rights that are accorded to individuals because of their status as
humans. These rights are based on universal characteristics, not on
feelings, desires, 'orientations,' or volitional conduct.”
Illinois lawmakers are expected to
debate the issue next month.