SSM and the expansive state

Given my recent posts on SSM, readers have been providing me with some good reading material on the subject.  Here's an interesting essay from the National Catholic Register addressing the religious liberty fallout from the creation of SSM.  The essay is overstated in spots, but in general I agree that the threat to religious liberty is serious.  (Though I'm not sold on the notion that the threat to religious liberty is itself a persuasive reason to oppose SSM.)  In any event, here's an insightful snippet about the the tendency of SSM to come with a more statist orientation than traditional marriage:

Marriage between men and women is a pre-political, naturally emerging social institution. Men and women come together to create children, independently of any government. The duty of caring for those children exists even without a government or any political order. . . .

Because marriage is an organic part of civil society, it is robust enough to sustain itself, with minimal assistance from the state.  By contrast, same-sex “marriage” is completely a creation of the state.