Same-Sex Marriage Is Constitutionally Illegitimate, the Result of an Anti-Democratic Litigation Campaign
Legal marriage is a public institution, created by law to promote public policy and to further social interests including especially the well-being of members of society. – particularly of children, mothers and families. Marriage has great significance for many important private interests, as well, such as for religion, for family ties, family history, and especially for personal identity.
What is deemed a marriage for purposes of the law may differ from what is deemed marriage for other purposes, such as for a specific academic discipline (such as sociology or ancient history, for example), or for a particular religious faith, private association, ethnic community, or for a specific set of cultural elites, etc. Just because a union is or is not deemed a legal marriage, this does not prevent any social subgroups from considering it a marriage (or a non-marriage) for their own (extra-legal) purposes.
The battle of what marriage means in the law can be seen from one important perspective as a battle among special interest groups each seeking to have their preferred understanding of marriage endorsed by the law and implemented in the law. Behind the marriage debate are political-economic interests.
Obsolescence is relevant. That is, if a huge gap opens up between the law and the moral order of society, one or the other must change or law risks becoming irrelevant. This “gap” also has profound significance for the legitimacy of the law. The very legitimacy of the law and even possibly the legitimacy of the legal system and its institutions (e.g., the courts, the legislature, the government) will be undermined if the law becomes obsolete. Thus, if legal marriage deviates profoundly from social understanding of marriage, both the institution of marriage and society in general are harmed. (Read more from “Same-Sex Marriage Is Constitutionally Illegitimate, the Result of an Anti-Democratic Litigation Campaign” HERE)
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