With last week’s historic signing of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, a renewed focus has been paid to the issue of gay marriage, both here and across the country. As a supporter of gay marriage, I generally get remarks from my conservative friends questioning my allegiance to conservative values by supporting (in their words) “non-traditional marriage.”

But for all the commotion that is usually created by my stance, what my fellow conservatives forget is that supporting marriage equality is not an affront to conservatism but rather an embracing of the values conservatism supports.

For years, many conservatives (particularly social conservatives) have upheld the institution of marriage as one of vital importance to our society — and they are correct to do so. Many studies have shown that children raised in a household with married parents tend to be better off in areas such as health, academics and family income. Why conservatives would want to deny the benefits of state-sanctioned monogamy to two people based on their gender is incomprehensible. At the end of the day, marriage is responsible for fostering responsibility and commitment in people, and conservatives should seek to help everyone achieve this goal — no matter his/her orientation. Of course, marriage equality is not a panacea to the ills that plague our society, but it is a good start.

Full Story from the Loyola Phoenix

Click here for gay marriage resources.

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