Proponents of same sex marriage say that allowing homosexuals to marry will have no impact on society. While I’m sure they are sincere on this point, they are nonetheless sincerely wrong.

First, even in ancient societies that accepted (and even celebrated) homosexuality, same sex marriage was never permitted. These cultures understood marriage existed to provide something no other relationship could provide: Children and a stable environment in which to raise those children as good citizens.

Indeed, same sex marriage only makes sense if companionship and sexual pleasure are matrimony’s primary ends, but this has never been the case.

To be sure, spousal happiness is vital, but this produces no lasting value, whereas the healthy rearing of children clearly does. Indeed, in an age where a growing number of children are growing up in single parent households (and where creeping cultural decay is the result), this is plain to see. If we want a healthy society, we will only get this through stable marriages and strong families.

For this reason, public policy makers have a duty to support traditional marriages and these alone. At the same time, as seen through this lens, what sense does it make to support same-sex spousal unions? If marriage’s primary purpose was the spouses’ happiness, then, yes, heterosexual-only wedlock would in fact be discrimination. But if the nuptial union has a more fundamental purpose, then anything that undermines that also undermines its first end—the raising of sound citizens.

So, what is the alternative?

By equating homosexual partnerships with marriage, society’s lackadaisical attitude about marriage will only grow. This will hurt society because it will provide a further disincentive for straight couples to wed. Of course, even though they won’t marry, they will still have children. And studies show children born out of wedlock have to a much greater degree a host of societal problems not shared by offspring in intact families: less academic achievement; more teenage pregnancy; more substance abuse; and more crime.

Some will say that with the advent of adoption by homosexual couples, this is precisely why such people need the right to marry. After all, wouldn’t this provide them with a stable home?

No, because as one national researcher notes, you need the qualities of both a mother and father to raise children effectively. Of course, these are something no same-sex couple could ever provide.

Furthermore, even studies by homosexual sociologists reveal that same-sex couples largely are not “just like other couples.” They have greater degrees of promiscuity and physical/mental health problems, along with shorter duration of both life and relationships.

Same-sex marriage promotes a particular welfare—that of the couple. However, it will degrade the general welfare, which arises from raising healthy, balanced children in traditional marriage. For this (and many other reasons), we should not support it.