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Call for Rational Bases for TX's same-sex marriage ban

03 Mar 2014 11:48 PM | Bennett Rawicki (Administrator)
No court yet has accepted any of the bases argued as justification for limiting "marriage" to its meaning of one man and one woman.  What ideas do you have for legitimate, rational bases that could uphold TX's ban on same sex marriage?

Last week's court order striking down TX's same-sex marriage ban turned on whether TX had proffered a legitimate, rational basis.  The court rejected the two asserted justifications for limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples (1) it benefits children; and (2) it encourages stable environments for procreation.  The court reasoned that same-sex couples can be just as good parents, and that recognizing same-sex marriage would have no effect on heterosexual couples and their choices to marry or have children.  Read the court's opinion here.

My idea of a rational basis:  Recognizing same-sex marriage as part of the definition of marriage will result in less children being born in the future, and the State has a legitimate interest in promoting more births.  
This is how there will be less children born if same-sex marriage is considered marriage:  The traditional definition of marriage has two aspects that have been part of society's common understanding: (1) marriage is a perpetual bond between two people who love each other; and (2) marriage is a step taken by people who agree to or plan to have kids.  It's a common question to ask a married couple, "When will you have kids?" because that is (or at least was) society's understanding of marriage.  With same-sex couples, who cannot naturally have children, people will not assume that their marriage means they plan to eventually have children.  Accordingly, society's conception of marriage will eventually change (soon or in later generations) to considering marriage as just a bond between two people that love each other.  Expanding the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples will actually narrow the common understanding of marriage by deleting the kids aspect.  This will lead society even further down the road of marriages with fewer children.  
The same-sex marriage cases give governments the chance to take a public stance for the true definition of marriage in a way that does not demean people with homosexual orientation, but instead focuses on the legitimate reasons marriage has always been defined as one man and one woman.  Promoting childbirth is one of those legitimate reasons.

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