The testimony Ryan Anderson (co-author of What Is Marriage) gave to the Indiana House Judiciary Committee earlier this week is a succinct defense of man/woman marriage, so it’s worth taking ten minutes to watch and then pass on his testimony to friends who are interested in understanding why you’re against redefining marriage.
He introduces his arguments this way (from the adapted transcript):
Everyone in this room is in favor of marriage equality. We all want the law to treat all marriages equally. But the only way we can know whether any state law is treating marriages equally is if we know what a marriage is. Every state law will draw lines between what is a marriage and what isn’t a marriage. If those lines are to be drawn on principle, if those lines are to reflect the truth, we have to know what sort of relationship is marital, as contrasted with other forms of consenting adult relationships.
So, in the time I have today, I’ll answer three questions: what is marriage, why does marriage matter for public policy, and what are the consequences of redefining marriage?
Watch his testimony below, or read the written version here.