BARR ON FMA: Alan Hawkins
I worry about the fragmentation of the meaning of marriage. Marriage derives a significant proportion of its social and cultural weight because it is almost universal in its definition and meaning, and is surprisingly similar in its practices despite vast sub-cultural differences. If marriage begins to mean different things in 50 different states and XX number of countries, don't we risk losing some of marriage's strength as an institution to shape in positive ways social behavior?
Also, for some time now we have been moving in the direction of building a lot of different relationship "quasi-institutions" surrounding the central institution of marriage, but have left marriage relatively intact, even if it is a bit rundown and in need of repairs. Now with same-sex marriage, the reasonable possibility emerges that the central building will be remodeled in a way that fails to distinguish it from the surrounding buildings. Some will argue that's progress; other's will fret about what we may lose and not be able to replace adequately. It's the developers versus the historical preservationists, only in the social world.
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