GAYS DEFEND MARRIAGE

Periodically marriage defenders’ insistence on marriage matching the traditional family model is met with the objection that infertile couples and seniors past reproductive ages are allowed to marry. Michael Johns, a GDM reader, put it this way:

Procreation is not a valid argument for marriage, because it excludes other groups as well such as individuals with disabilities that won’t allow them to procreate (should they not be allowed to get married either).

But for me, at least, the ability to reproduce is not at the center of my (secular) argument against same-sex marriage. It’s that opposite-sex couples form the kind of family format that I believe is best-suited for the welfare of children. (In case you’re new, I’m not saying gays can’t be good parents; they can. I’m saying whenever possible a child should have both a mother and a father.)

Some infertile and post-reproductive age couples adopt; others plan to never have children but find that a relative dies and they are raising a child to their surprise. The point is that any opposite-sex couple is going to be a part of that ideal format. (Again, if you’re new, I’m not saying all opposite-sex couples are better than all same-sex couples; they’re not. We’re dealing with the ideal here.)