Who Needs Marriage?! WE DO!

June 5, 2009

While the AVL has grown accustomed to the Rev. Steve Newlin's particular brand of invective, his latest attack on the Vampire Marriage Act has crossed a line — even by the Fellowship of the Sun's questionable standards. In his latest devotional video, Newlin refers to inter-species marriage as, "a parasitic relationship where one member feeds on the other, watching as his or her human spouse wends through the normal stages of life, while remaining as untouched by age as a stuffed owl in a museum."

This sort of hyperbole doesn't serve anyone. Oversimplifying relationships — as if Newlin's "union between two humans, with a minimum of two sexes" guarantees a healthy marriage — is more than ludicrous...it's misleading. Beyond the grandstanding of family-values politicos and fire-and-brimstone preachers, most Americans realize that lifelong relationships demand a commitment so evolving, complicated and personal that it transcends any definition society would give it. Of all the challenges couples face in the modern world — parenting, finances, sickness, infidelity — does the fact that one of them is a vampire seem like the most difficult hurdle to overcome? On one point, however, we do agree with Rev. Newlin: Marriage is the "bedrock" of lives, making it far too important to restrict based on such simplistic and reactionary grounds.

Watch the video above for information about the Fellowship of the Sun's insidious "Who Needs Marriage?" campaign.