After passage of a gay marriage bill in
New York, Timothy Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York,
warned against polygamous unions.
Last month, the New York Senate
approved Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to make New York the sixth –
and most populous – state to legalize gay marriage. Cuomo quickly
signed the bill into law and gay and lesbian couples will be able to
wed in the Empire State starting on July 24.
Dolan had strongly condemned allowing
gay couples to marry, calling it an “ominous threat” to society
and “a violation of what we consider the natural law that's
embedded in every man and woman.”
Writing
at his blog, Dolan warned that the push for government
recognition of polygamous unions had already started.
“And now we ring the steeple bell
again at this latest dilution of the authentic understanding of
marriage, worried that the next step will be another redefinition to
justify multiple partners and infidelity,” Dolan wrote. “If you
think I'm exaggerating within days of the passage of this bill, one
major newspaper ran a flattering profile of a proponent of what was
called 'nonmonogamy.' Apparently, 'nonmonogamy' is the idea that
society is unrealistic to think that one man and one woman should
remain faithful in marriage, and that openness to some infidelity
should be the norm!”
Dolan also apologized if he offended
anyone in the gay community.
However, the bishop began his post with
the suggested that gay marriage backers were after his head for
speaking out against the institution.
The bill was approved “hauntingly, on
the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, whom King Herod would
behead because the saint dared to defend the God-given truth about
marriage.”