Social conservatives are pouncing on
Merriam-Webster's decision to include gay unions in the definition of
marriage in its dictionary.
The inclusion of a second definition of
marriage recognizing gay and lesbian unions happened in 2003, a year
before Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage,
but went widely unnoticed.
The definition recognizes gay and
lesbian couples by adding a second definition to the word marriage:
“the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a
relationship like that of a traditional marriage.”
On Tuesday, the conservative website
World Net Daily posted viewer's reactions to a YouTube video
that highlighted the change.
“I was shocked to see that
Merriam-Webster changed their definition of the word 'marriage' a
word which has referred exclusively to a contract between a man and a
woman for centuries,” Eric B. told the website. “The 1992
Websters' Dictionary does not mention same sex at all.”
But the dictionary is standing by its
definition.
“We often hear from people who
believe that we are promoting – or perhaps failing to promote – a
particular social or political agenda when we make choices about what
words to include in the dictionary and how those words should be
defined,” Kory Stamper, an associated editor at the dictionary, is
quoted as telling a WND reader. “In recent years, this new sense
of 'marriage' has appeared frequently and consistently throughout a
broad spectrum of carefully edited publications, and is often used in
phrases such as 'same-sex marriage' and 'gay marriage' by proponents
and opponents alike.”
“Its inclusion was a simple matter of
providing our readers with accurate information about all of the
word's current uses,” he added.
The YouTube video that first caught the
attention of gay marriage opponents ends with the words “WAKE UP!”