Florida Adoptions and California Prop 8 opening brief

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Two developments today on gay rights issues. An appeals court struck down a Florida state law preventing gay couples from adopting children.

Also today, an opening brief was filed in the case regarding California Proposition 8. A federal court ruled that the California ban on same-sex marriage violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Although lengthy, the brief was short on substance.

The main argument presented is that the primary purpose of marriage is procreation, and therefore, the state has an interest in keeping marriage between a man and woman. If this is true, then there will be far-reaching consequences to millions of married and unmarried couples. If the primary purpose and state interest of marriage is procreation, then all marriages that do not bear children are invalid and should be dissolved. All married couples must be required to produce children, and all unmarried couples with children must be required to marry. Following this logic, you can quickly come to the conclusion that this assertion is ridiculous.

The second argument made is that marriage is a historical tradition. That too is ludicrous. Slavery was a "historical tradition", but that doesn't make it right or legal.

Stay tuned - I'll post any new developments on these cases in my blog.

Best regards,

-- Gary Wright II

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