SAN FRANCISCO, March 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- "As I listened to the arguments in the California Supreme Court today, there was no mention of the rights and interests of children in the marriage of their parents," said Bill May, spokesperson for Stand with Children. "That is unfortunate, because the court's decision will be between the narrow private interests of a small group of adults and the common interest of every child in having a married mother and father." Stand with Children is an educational project that focuses on the stake children have in the marriage of their parents.
"The interest of children is best served by laws encouraging and supporting marriage for their mothers and fathers rather than by supporting those who would intentionally deprive them of a mother or a father," May emphasized. "Redefining marriage will disconnect it from the most basic public interest, - encouraging people who engage in reproductive acts to enter marriage commitments which provide their children with a mother and father."
"Children can't articulate their best interest; they depend on adults to do it for them. For thousands of years marriage has been focused on procreating and raising children. Marriage has never been focused on the status of adults or severed from the reality that sexual relations between a man and a woman have the potential to generate new life."
"We know from our own experience it is natural to desire a married mother and father. Intentionally depriving a child of a mother or a father is wrong. In a recent Pew Research Center poll, 69% of respondents agreed, "a child needs a mother and a father to grow up happily." (Pew Research Center, July 1, 2007)
"Marriage between a man and a woman is in fact a public interest and not a lifestyle choice equivalent to cohabitation, single parenthood, or same-sex relationships. Marriage must be promoted, not watered down. Currently 40 percent of children are born out of wedlock and 34 percent are deprived of their biological fathers."
