Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage

[Thought that some MOJ readers would be interested in this posting on SSRN:]


"Bad Arguments Against Gay Marriage"

      BY:  DALE CARPENTER
              University of Minnesota Law School

Document:  Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=832008

Paper ID:  Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-42

Contact:  DALE CARPENTER
   Email:  Mailto:[email protected]
  Postal:  University of Minnesota Law School
           229 19th Avenue South
           Minneapolis, MN 55455  UNITED STATES

ABSTRACT:
This article claims that three common arguments against gay
marriage - the definitional, procreation, and slippery-slope
arguments - are quite bad, the worst of the lot. The
definitional argument asserts that marriage just is the union of
one man and one woman, and that the definition alone is a
sufficient defense against claims for gay marriage. The
procreation argument claims that marriage's central public
purpose is to encourage procreation, and so the exclusion of
same-sex couples is justified. The slippery-slope argument
claims that the acceptance of same-sex marriage logically
entails the acceptance of other public policy changes - notably
the acceptance of polygamy - that would themselves be bad,
independent of whether gay marriage is bad.

While each argument has some appeal, and each has adherents
both inside and outside the legal academy, each is badly flawed
as a matter of logic, experience, politics, or some combination
of the three. The article suggests that in the interest of
focusing on the most important concerns about gay marriage,
commentators should move on to other arguments against it that
seem stronger and thus better test the affirmative case for gay
marriage.