Our nation is being asked to vote on whether or not it wishes to change the definition of marriage. I need to emphasise at the outset that I have been an Orthodox rabbi for 35Â years. On my watch, no person has been turned away or made to feel uncomfortable because of their sexual preference. What someone does in the privacy of one’s own home is between them and God.
Indeed, it is a fundamental principle of my faith, and the Judeo-Christian ethic, that all human beings are created equal in the image of God and therefore, have unalienable rights. It is precisely this belief that not only allows me, but empowers me, to respect and accept every single human being regardless of colour, race, creed or sexual orientation.
It is important to remember what happens when God and His teachings are removed from the equation. In the former Soviet Union, the state became an omnipotent ruler, truly God-like and its pursuit of “equality” blended into the excuse to impose a ruthless totalitarian regime. In Nazi Germany, pseudo-science replaced God and rather than all beings created equal, Hitler reduced humanity to classes and subclasses, the lowest of which were homosexuals and Jews – whose lives (according to his twisted rationale) were less than worthless.
Belief in a creator is the root of all human rights and democracy in Western society. Because of this, I would always fight for LGBTQI rights. However, it is precisely this profound belief that makes me vote “no” for same-sex marriage.
Read the full article by Rabbi Moshe Gutnick at the Sydney Morning Herald.