Braving the cold at the Talk to the Township Committee event outside Walgreen's on Springfield Avenue on Saturday, Larrier declined to speak about her reasons for opposition, which she has said in the past were based on her faith.
You may recall the statement she issued last month when asked why she had not been campaigning with Mayor Vic De Luca:
“The issue is this. I believe everyone should be treated with respect and dignity – regardless of what they believe, and ‘different’ doesn’t mean ‘less than.’ Maplewood is great because it is diverse on so many levels and in so many ways. Because of my faith, I also I believe that God is God and God made marriage. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman — because, God made marriage and that’s what His word says about it. However, none of these beliefs are assumed — in fact, just the opposite would be assumed — if the Mayor and I ran together. For this reason, so there would be some separation of stance, I chose to run separately.
“I support the Mayor’s candidacy, and believe we have, in broad strokes, similar ideas and views. However, on this personal issue, we do not.”
Of course, one could argue that a civil marriage ceremony is not the same as a religious marriage ceremony and one can support one without the other. It is also clear that same-sex marriage laws have never required any religious leaders to perform them. They only allow couples to engage in them and receive equal rights, the same as straight couples.
We have also never heard or read that God made marriage. Marriage is a man-made creation, be it religious or civil.
Even in the Bible passage cited by many to indicate marriage, Genesis 2:18, the writing indicates only that God created women to be with man, it makes no mention of marriage or of any opposition to gay marriage:
2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
It also states that the first woman is made from the rib of the first man. This is creationism, which has been denied by most public entities and schools. If Larrier is citing such a source to support her anti-gay marriage stance, will she also do so to support other things in the bible, such as stoning women who are non-virgins on their wedding day or putting adulterers to death?
Perhaps she should also see the award-wining documentary, For the Bible Tells Me So, which uses theologians and religious scholars to point out why biblical opposition to gay rights or gay marriage falls flat.
The full movie is viewable HERE.
Does someone who adheres to this biblical oversight of issues deserve to be on the Township Committee?
We asked Larrier on Saturday about this and the concerns that her view could lead to limitations on gay rights here in Maplewood, a town that has led the way for gay marriage support, including holding a special day in honor of gay marriage that included some of the first same-sex marriage ceremonies in New Jersey.
She declined to discuss it on record, but offered this statement:
"I would say that at no point in time have I done anything in this town, in governing this town that has not been fair to every person in town and I am committed to upholding the law, I am committed to governing this town to the benefit of everyone and that is what I am doing."
We will see.
Jefferson PTA Larrier, any relation???
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