Christian Couple Decides to Divorce If Gays Can Marry

But they'd still be 'husband' and 'wife'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 11, 2015 8:13 AM CDT
Christian Couple Decides to Divorce If Gays Can Marry
In this Dec. 7, 2013 file photo, Ivan Hinton gives his partner a kiss after taking their wedding vows in Canberra, Australia. Australia's highest court struck down a law allowing the country's first gay marriages days later.   (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

Couples have been known to hold off on tying the knot until gay marriage is legal. A Christian couple in Australia, however, says they will divorce if gay marriage is allowed. "My wife and I just celebrated our 10-year anniversary. But later this year, we may be getting a divorce," Nick Jensen writes in a piece for the Canberra CityNews published yesterday. Why? "Marriage is the union of a man and a woman before a community in the sight of God" and "not a human invention," Jensen continues. If parliament votes to allow same-sex couples to marry, "then we no longer wish to be associated with this new definition." Should it come to divorce, Jensen and wife Sarah won't exactly part ways: They'll still live together, perhaps have more kids, use the terms "husband" and "wife," and "consider ourselves married by the Church and before God." They just won't be legally married.

Jensen's piece has drawn plenty of strongly worded criticism, with some readers taking issue with the CityNews (which news.com.au describes as an "independent publication distributed in local businesses") for running it as a cover story. One commenter applauds the "genius" move to run the article, writing on Facebook, " It's going to do nothing but help the marriage equality cause. Now the country has international pressure not to be so stupid." While the editor of the CityNews says "the article does not reflect the opinion of the paper," he defends his decision to publish it. "I think this couple had an interesting angle, and that it was newsworthy," he tells news.com.au. Jensen himself, who says he's received plenty of "love mail," defends his stance to the Sydney Morning Herald, noting same-sex marriage would "have serious consequences for children who would grow up without a mother or father." Expanding the definition of marriage could also pave a path for polygamy, he says. (These five odd things raise your chance of divorce.)

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