Procreation: a Prerequisite for Marriage?

John Howard,

My point was to avoid “sham marriage” by marrying a person with the same sexual orientation in the first place. Ex-governor McGreevey of New Jersey comes to mind as an example of what happens should we not. When sex is not based on love, but is just another chore, like cleaning the bathroom, then this is neither good for the couple nor the children.

Planning for children is the best way to guarantee that they will be well loved and cared for, no matter the orientation of the parents. Letting children “just happen” is better suited for rabbits and monkeys.

The right to have children is well established in case law. This applies, we find, to felons in prison and persons in mental institutions. But not to gay and lesbian couples, according to your philosophy? Your proposal would not meet constitutional muster.

Res Ipsa points out in comment 3, above, that homosexual couples have children for the same reasons that heterosexual couples do. Your “selfish” characterization applies to neither or both equally well. Your prejudice tells you that people who have a different sexual orientation are different in other ways as well when they are not.

You say that children should come first, but you don’t want the children of same sex couples to have the same protections under the marriage laws that the children of opposite sex couples have. Instead, you want to prevent same sex couples from having or adopting children so they can’t use the fact that they are parents to assert their right to be married. Yet the case law is clear here as well. The ability to procreate is not a prerequisite for marriage.

Denying marriage to people with a different sexual orientation makes no more sense that denying marriage to those with a different skin color, ethnicity, or any other irrelevant factors. This would go far in eliminating the “tragedies” you say you deplore. So explain to me again, how your opposition to same sex marriage is anything more that animosity towards lesbians and gays. W (From: Family Scholar's blog Comment #24)