GAYS ARE PARENTS TOO: Gabriel Rosenberg replies to Stanley Kurtz

...I don't know how to explain Stanley Kurtz's latest article which claims we must "draw the line" at preventing gay marriage in order to avoid severing the link between marriage and parenting. Kurtz argues at length, yet fails to make even a single attempt to deal with the fact that gay parents are currently being denied the ability to marry. It's stunning. He even has a section entitled "Parenting means Marrying." The section begins...

"Here is what [Rev. Donald] Sensing misses: In America, parenthood still means marriage. Despite the problems of the underclass, and despite the prevalence of premarital cohabitation, the vast majority of Americans believe that parents ought to be married. True, divorce has seriously disrupted the connection between marriage and parenthood. Yet a comparison to Scandinavia and the rest of Europe immediately reveals that Americans who wish to become parents marry."

Do y'all see the same syllogism jumping out at you that I do?

Parents ought to be married.

Gays are parents.

Therefore, gays ought to be married. ...

I don't know what Professor Polikoff wants, but it is Kurtz that is arguing for required parental cohabitation. And as I noted here, even if one bought the unsubstantiated argument that Scandinavia's registered partnerships "severed the link" between marriage and parenting, the fact that couples in RP's were originally not allowed access to adoption or reproductive technology seems critical to the analysis. In America, gays are allowed (and do) adopt and use reproductive technology but are denied access to marriage. If Kurtz wants to strengthen the link between parenting and marriage, he should be pushing for the ability of gay couples to marry, not fighting it.

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posted by Eve at 1:06 AM | link

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