Friday, April 24, 2009

The Institution Formerly Known As Marriage

by Jennifer Roback Morse

The Iowa court’s recent decision does not simply broaden marriage, it radically changes its nature. While marriage previously served public purposes of attaching mothers and fathers to their children and one another, now marriage merely serves as affirmation of adult feelings.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.04.24.001.pdart

2 comments:

Peter Hoh said...

Yes, as it has since the advent of no fault divorce.

Marty said...

You've hit on a key point here. For years traditionalists have charged that "gay actists are trying to destroy the family", while gay activists say "no of course not, don't be ridiculous!"

Yet this is exactly the result. Marriage has nothing to do with children, and Mother's and Fathers are not of any particular importance -- any two persons can serve as the "parental units". Blood, marriage, sex, have nothing to do with it.

I suppose this is a necessary step, until we reach the day when all children become "wards of the state" when they are born, and (presumably) are assigned "legal guardians" until they reach the age of majority.