We try to keep on top of activities that work against our goals, and wanted to share something that recently came through our media alerts.
Here at Unmarried Equality we advocate for unmarried, cohabiting and polyamorous relationships. Within the “unmarried” category we recognize single people, those in committed relationships, those in legal domestic partnerships, and common law marriages. Because our base is so large and diverse, we sometimes feel that our constituents require separate advocacy efforts. That is, until we read something like this:
From “UnMarried: The Rise of Singleness,” comes an appeal to support the production of a Christian-produced movie. The call to action states, “If we don’t address this issue (the decline of heterosexual marriage), we’re done. There is no future for the family. There is no future for the church. There is no future for our nation.
It is not the similarity of their name to ours that offends us the most (though it is pretty creepy.) The mission of this organization is to use the Bible to investigate why their cherished institution of heterosexual marriage is on the decline, and to instill fear in the hearts of those who suffer from “prolonged singleness.”
We could see why Christian fundamentalists might be concerned about the future of marriage: same sex couples are gaining marriage rights; young adults, especially women, are investing more time in their own educations and careers before considering partners; more individuals are becoming parents outside of marriage; and polyamory has begun to emerge as an accepted lifestyle. Their project documents rising fears of the demise of the “traditional” way of married life.
Ours celebrates it.
