Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 4:05:37 PM
California’s marriage amendment is the target of many bad arguments, but there just two I wanted to quickly address in this entry. Proposition 8 would amend California’s constitution so that marriage licenses are only issued to bride-groom couples. It was headed for the ballot already when California’s Supreme Court overstepped its authority to neuter marriage licensing, against a vote of the people of California in 2000.
“They’ve had same-sex ‘marriage’ in [fill in the blank] for [fill in the blank] years now, and the world didn’t come to an end.” This only makes sense in response to someone who insists that there will be some sort of glaringly obvious Divine judgment executed against any locality where this happens. Most people who argue for maintaining (or, now, in this case, restoring) traditional marriage licensing put forth arguments based on what is going to happen in the long term (declining marriage rates, more illegitimacy). Sure, fire and brimstone aren’t raining from the skies, but the politicians and the activists will never admit 20 years down the line that the further devaluation of traditional marriage and the combination of mothering and fathering has been bad for society. All of the problems will be chalked up to racism, or homophobia, or a lack of some government program, or the "underfunding" of public education.
“Who cares what other people do?” This would be valid if it was talking about private behavior. State marriage licensing is a public behavior, and the licenses are issued on behalf of the people of California. So the people of California should have a say in the matter.
Related:
Neutering Marriage Devalues and Discourages Marriage
Bad Arguments For Neutering Marriage Licensing
Proposition 8 Doesn’t Hurt Anyone