MARRIAGE = CHILDREN?: Josh Jasper

That seems to be where the arguments are going these days. Marriage is talked about in a way that's primarily about children, and the idea is put forth that same sex marriage being made into law will cause heterosexual marriages to be taken less seriously. Obviously, I think this is absurd, but let's follow the idea that this line of thinking will somehow win out, and same sex marriages will be banned by a constitutional amendment. What then?

Outside of the fact that GLBT groups will continue to work to overturn the law, I'll give you my prediction. I think it's an easy one to figure out:

Same sex couples will continue to get married, just not with the law's blessing on a federal level. Some states like Virginia will drive out all of the same sex couples they can manage due to not providing any social support for them. States like California, Vermont and Massachusetts will probably attract same sex couples from bigoted states (I'm sorry. "family values states") and America will simply become more and more divided.

Also, same-sex couples will continue to raise kids. It's already happening, and by my personal estimation, those that I know are excellent parents. They'll just not raise kids in places like Virginia or Alabama unless they have to. Will all of the children be well adjusted? No more or less so than the children of heterosexual couples are as far as I can tell. My next door neighbors are heterosexual, and regularly get drunk and scream at their children. Where's the federal marriage amendment that'll protect them? The police won't do anything, but the federal government will step in and make sure the same-sex couples I know who are doing a great job of raising kids are punished by not getting the same rights and protections that the abusive neighbors get.

So, unless the anti SSM movement force the law into taking my friends' kids away, they're going to get raised by same sex partners. This isn't a shrinking trend either. People want to be parents. That much is undeniable. Opposing same-sex marriage doesn't just create second-class couples, it creates second-class children. It doesn't make the same-sex couples already raising children any less married in their eyes, or the eyes of their children.
posted by Eve at 7:36 PM | link

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