All in the Family
All in the Family - Gerard V. Bradley
Proponents of same-sex marriage often make their argument on the basis of equality. There is no rational foundation, they would claim, for denying same-sex couples the recognition and benefits enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples. On this reading, marriage is reduced to a mere manifestation of adult satisfactions. The author suggests that one way to counter such arguments is to illustrate coherently that marriage is a procreative relationship. Traditional marriage law is based on procreation because children embody and reflect the union of their parents (‘two-of-them-as-one-flesh’). This, in turn, creates the unbreakable chords of the ‘matrix of familial equality, mutuality, and common identity’ upon which family life (love, duty, loyalty, care-giving) depends.
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