raditional patriarchal heterosexual family, with a working male and dependent female, divinely mandated by God, disappearing before their eyes (Ruether 19). However, Ruether points out that this form of family does not exist in the Bible, and was only found as a minority in the white middle class of the 19th to mid 20th centuries. She points to the many forms of family found in Hebrew scripture, where polygamy is common, and the New Testament which attacked the patriarchal family, saying ôthere will be no more marrying and giving in marriage.ö She points out that husbands and wives have worked throughout history, and that it was only after the industrial revolution that the dependent wife became a feature of marriage.
Ruether criticizes the Christian right for trying to impose their æfamily valuesÆ of one form of family on an unwilling audience, for the most part (20). She points out that Vermont already allows full and equal civil legal status to gay and lesbian couples, and that an increasing number of people in same-sex unions raise children, either their own from prior
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