The marriage between a man and a woman reveals the very structure of the human. As such, the meaning of marriage is not determined by the State; it is recognized as the expression of the ideal of a creative community serving the common good of its members. The legal recognition of “gay marriage”, therefore, betokens a change in the ideal that motivates society.

The marriage between a man and a woman overcomes the individual’s fear that sees the “other” as a threatening competitor, affirming the possibility of a mutual respect independent of individual power. As such, it is the proper context for the welcoming acceptance and respect for children as the weakest members of human society. Therefore a society that can no longer recognize the privileged status of the family based on the marriage between a man and a woman is a society that has become a dangerous environment for those who cannot compete in the struggle for power.

“Love is man’s greatest value, and therefore the example of the man and the woman is the formula that represents the ideal…. Man lives only in love, in a true love. The human becomes true in love.... Humanity is realized in a real love, that has no fear of desperation, what Dante sings in his Vita Nova: ‘When love finds me close to you it makes me so bold and confident that I change into someone else’” (L. Giussani, “Letter to the Holy Father”–Traces, Vol. 5, no.10, p. 49)