Dan Savage on Marriage

An OpEd by Dan Savage in Sunday's NYT. A couple things jumped out at me:

At least the New York court acknowledged that many same-sex couples have children. Washington’s judges went out of their way to make ours disappear, finding that “limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to the survival of the human race, and furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children’s biological parents.” Children, the decision continues, “tend to thrive in families consisting of a father, mother and their biological children.’’

Point one, "Essential to the survival of the human race": it doesn't appear, at this point, that the human race is about to die out. At least not from lack of procreation.

Point two, "Children, the decision continues, “tend to thrive in families consisting of a father, mother and their biological children": this is so much bullshit, no matter which way you approach it. First, children don't thrive any better in the situation described than they do in families headed by same-sex parents. Second, I don't know of any case in which gay parents have sexually, physically, or emotionally abused their children. That seems to happen in straight families.

Dale Carpenter notwithstanding, the Washington decision is junk law, ideologically driven and politically motivated. I know, I sound shrill, but there's really no other way to describe it accurately.

(Thanks to AmericaBlog for the link.)