A dialogue about same-sex marriage

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

A conservative friend of mine pointed me to this link: Vatican Says Church Does Not Support Same-Sex Civil Unions.

Me: Yes. Nothing new. Of course popes don’t announce changes in church teachings via a documentary published by some independent producer. Even Fratelli Tutti (pope Francis’ last encyclical) does not bring a change in church teachings. Church teachings take generations to change. The next pope will either confirm Francis’ direction or not. Let’s hope that the next pope will continue what Francis started.

He: I personally of course hope the opposite and also promote the idea of having a marriage referendum in Estonia, which I hope will yield the right result.

Me: Yes, EKRE’s plan with their referendum has some chance to work out. They will show to the world that Estonia is yet another place where people still believe that same-sex marriage is a sin.

Most people, including me, are heterosexual. Most people, including me, find it disgusting to discuss about sex. We don’t need no referendum to show this.

Whether same-sex marriage should be allowed or not is an international topic because people can marry in one country and then move to another country. Having contradictory legislations causes difficult legal issues. The topic has been discussed, researched and voted within the EU and the UN. Already the mere fact that Estonia organizes, in 2021, their own referendum about this topic shows that people in Estonia think they are wiser than the rest of the world. I acknowledge this as a sign of self-confidence and courage. OTOH I doubt that it will help the EU and UN to change their direction.

If that referendum happens and the result is Yes (same-sex marriage is allowed in Estonia), it will just have caused some administrative costs, which we obviously needed as part of our learning process.

If the referendum furthermore results in an official national “No” to same-sex marriage, it will show that most Estonians, including those who refuse religion, believe that Christianity is a moral law system and that Estonia is yet another place where majority doesn’t yet understand the Gospel.

The result of a referendum will of course depend on the formulation of the question. I don’t know how far they are with this. I imagine that EKRE plans to ask something like this:

  • Should we prohibit same-sex marriage? Yes / No / I won’t answer

It is reasonable to hope that most Estonians refuse to answer the question because they are polite and careful people. And then EKRE just needs to mobilize enough moralizers who vote Yes.

If EKRE really continues to insist on their referendum, I hope that our politicians are at least smart enough to find better questions. Some spontaneous examples:

  • Should we prohibit marriage to couples who cannot have biological children?

  • Should we give health care to homosexual people in order to become heterosexual?

  • Should we prohibit kissing in public places?

The best would be of course to avoid these useless costs, to simply follow the international direction given by EU and the UN. This is also the basic idea of a petition initiated by Estonian Green Party: Petitsioon perekonnaseaduse muutmiseks Such a petition needs 1000 signatures to make it into the parliament’s agenda. This petition has already 34473 signatures. A sign of hope!

And in case my hope gets disappointed and Estonia would really become an officially homophobic nation, I will do as the Bible inspires me: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom 12:2).

See also About homosexuality and About family which I updated recently. Oh my God, I start to get fed up with this! I wish we would change over to more serious topics like those I list in How to save the world.