Timothy Dolan Tells Morley Safer: Gay Unions Noble, But Not Good Enough For Marriage
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | March 24, 2011
Archbishop of New York Timothy Michael Dolan says gay and lesbian unions are “beautiful and noble,” but not good enough for marriage.
Dolan, who was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November, made his comments on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.
“I have a strong desire to play shortstop for the Yankees,” Dolan told Morley Safer. “I don't have a right to, 'cause I don't have what it takes.”
“And that would be what the church would say about marriage.”
“We would say, marriage by nature, marriage by definition, is between man and woman, for life, giving children. Don't tamper with the definition.”
“It is a right for those who can live up to those expectations that are just encoded in the definition. It's not a right to those who can't.”
When Safer stated that gay marriage doesn't attack heterosexual marriage but “just alters, only slightly, the definition of marriage,” Dolan disagreed.
“Where would then the tampering stop?” he rhetorically asked.
“I mean I love my mom. I don't have the right to marry her. OK, so there are certain rights and attractions in life that are very beautiful and noble, but don't entitle you to marriage.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)