Utah, in Opposing Gay Marriage, Finds Three Arguments Are Better Than One

[DonViejo]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s order last week halting same-sex marriages in Utah was two sentences long. It was provisional and cryptic, and it added nothing to the available information on where the Supreme Court stands on the momentous question of whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Utah’s briefs were another matter. They were expansive, and they set out the current arguments for denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.

In the trial court, the state had argued that restricting marriage to a man and a woman would make heterosexual couples act more responsibly when they had sex. In the Supreme Court, the state threw that “responsible procreation” argument overboard in favor of one focused on “optimal parenting.” By the time it filed its final brief on Jan. 6, the state had introduced a fresh argument, drawn from the Supreme Court’s decisions on affirmative action.

The state’s first argument, made before Judge Robert J. Shelby of the Federal District Court in Salt Lake City, was that “the traditional definition of marriage reinforces responsible procreation.” The government benefits that come with marriage, the state said, encourage opposite-sex couples to form stable families “in which their planned, and especially unplanned, biological children may be raised.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/us/utahs-arguments-against-gay-marriage.html?smid=re-share&_r=0

[customerserviceguy]

1. Utah, where marriage is between a man and a woman

and a woman, and a woman, and a woman, etc.

Yes, I know the Mormon church currently denounces polygamy, but get into the geneology of most Utah Mormons (they're really into that stuff) and you will most likely find a polygamist a few generations back.