The catchcry of same-sex marriage proponents is “equality”: gay couples have a right to equal treatment and to deny them legal marriage is blatant discrimination.
Yet this claim deflects attention from the real issue: what is the true nature of marriage?
Two rival visions jostle for supremacy. The conjugal model says marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. The partnership model says marriage is a contract between committed loving couples.
Conjugal marriage is a comprehensive union (mental and physical, emotional and sexual) of a man and a woman.
Marriage has a true essence, a fundamental core; it is a real phenomenon, not just a human invention or convention.
A crocodile is a crocodile, a tree is a tree, a river is a river. We did not invent crocodiles, we simply discovered them and named them. We can call a hippopotamus a crocodile if we want but that does not change its essential nature.
All it does is lead to confusion.
Marriage is a pre-political institution.
States recognise marriage; they do not invent it. States value the institution in which men and women commit indefinitely and exclusively to each other and to the children their sexual union commonly (but not invariably) produces.
Gay marriage proponents will argue that defines marriage so as to exclude gay couples, a neat trick that fools no-one.
Not so. Recall their key claim: gay couples deserve equal legal recognition.
That is an empty argument. To insist upon equality is to require that “like things be treated alike”.
So X and Y should be treated equally for X and Y are alike. But we need to know in what respects X is like Y and whether these characteristics are morally valid before we can be confident that they merit equal treatment.
We must have a standard for deciding which characteristics count and which don’t.
Is gay (partnership) marriage “like” conjugal marriage?
In some respects, yes: both may involve monogamous couples who have a deep commitment to each other. Continue reading
Sources
- Rex Ahdar in The Dominion Post
- Image: kidspot.co.nz
Rex Ahdar is a law professor at Otago University.