DAVID BLANKENHORN ON SSM: On National Public Radio

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Excerpts from the transcript:

SIMON: And is there such thing as a universal definition of marriage?

Mr. BLANKENHORN: Yes. Generally throughout human cultures in history has meant the socially approved and encouraged sex bond between the male and the female with the encouragement and expectation of bearing children and of being caretakers for one another.

SIMON: Does this debate that's going on now about the state of marriage, the institution of marriage pit some equal moral regards against one another?

Mr. BLANKENHORN: Yes. This issue is about what the philosopher Isaiah Berlin called goods in conflict. One good thing is the notion of equal human dignity and that we should treat one another with equal respect and regard. And it's a universal moral idea and it is deeply a part of the American founding and experience. And in that respect, were we to institute same-sex marriage, I think in that way we would be more American the day after we did it.

On the other side of the ledger, we have another very important social good which is: What helps children thrive? And we humans have determined almost universally that children strongly need mothers and fathers to love and nurture that child and love and nurture each other hopefully always, and that is the ideal that is reflected in our current definition of marriage. ...

Mr. BLANKENHORN: I think it [a civil-union-type thing] would be a good solution. ...Unfortunately, I think that the strong partisans on each side of this debate, neither side is willing to settle for this....
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