By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times
January 26, 2013, 7:20 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Marriage should be limited to unions of a man and a woman because they alone can “produce unplanned and unintended offspring,” opponents of gay marriage have told the Supreme Court.
By contrast, when same-sex couples decide to have children, “substantial advance planning is required,” said Paul D. Clement, a lawyer for House Republicans…
The traditional marriage laws “reflect a unique social difficulty with opposite-sex couples that is not present with same-sex couples — namely, the undeniable and distinct tendency of opposite-sex relationships to produce unplanned and unintended pregnancies,” wrote Clement, a solicitor general under President George W. Bush. “Unintended children produced by opposite-sex relationships and raised out-of-wedlock would pose a burden on society.”
via Gay marriage opponents take unusual tack with Supreme Court – latimes.com.
Hey there! Does anybody else find this line of reasoning ridiculous? Marriage as a REMEDY for unwanted pregnancy? Talk about a NARROW finding…
Following that reasoning women over fifty should not be allowed to marry AT ALL because they can no longer produce offspring. Of course, men up to the age of say… ninety, while their swimmers may be slow, could still fertilize an egg so they should be able to marry as long as they can get it up. I’d love to be in line when said gentleman applies for a marriage license. How exactly would he prove he was worthy?
And, an eighty year old couple who have found love together after their spouses have died should not be allowed to marry. However, if the eighty year old guy wants to marry Raven, the topless dancer from Jumbo’s Jiggle Room, that’s okay, they should have lots of kids!
What about cancer patients who have had radiation treatments and are sterile? No marriage for them – they should just be grateful they’re alive!
If the purpose of marriage (in Paul Clement’s brain) is to take care of unwanted babies, then any responsible couple who avoids getting pregnant outside of marriage, either by abstinence or contraception, should join gay couples in limbo for the right to marry.
That’s all…
At times I am left speechless by the antics of the anti-everythings. This is one of them.
I can understand why the Obama Administration declined to defend DOMA, and the Senate, wait… that leaves us with Congress… Let’s see if they can get that approval rating down from 14% into the single digits denying benefits to same sex couples that defend our country. Sorry, climbing down from soapbox now and heading over to your blog to see what you’ve been up to. Hugs, V
Katherine Hepburn on Marriage: “I often wonder whether men and women really suit eachother. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”
I wonder how she felt when he visited with Gene Tierney…
I don’t know anything about That! Do tell
1952, during the making of “Plymouth Adventure”… Irene Dunne only worked with him once, she found his overtures to her on “A Guy Named Joe” irritating, to say the least. He must have slowed down in later years but in the 1930s-1950s he was quite the player.
Well Lanier your quote from katherine Hepburn set me to thinking that some have tried that.From memory{I hope I am right}but the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo tried something like that during their tempestuous marriage.I think they even went so far as to have built a bridge between their two house to make visting easier.