If the point of marriage is indeed to rear children, as opponents of same-sex marriage maintain, then shouldn't gays be allowed to marry in the states that allow them to adopt?
Those who advocate for replacing civil marriage with civil union maintain that the many tangible benefits of civil marriage (such as tax relief, benefit sharing and inheritance rights) should be available, not only to families headed by heterosexual couples, but to all families that relieve taxpayers of much of the cost of the care and nurturance of their members.
Between 1766 and 1769 Boswell amused himself with various well-hedged schemes of marriage, maintaining meantime a liaison with a young Mrs. Dodds.
Some folks claim that in the long run, a timely divorce is better for the kiddies than an unhappy marriage maintained for stability's sake.
Throughout their 27-year marriage, the couple, who met when she was 36 and he was nearly 20 years older than her and was the survivor of an earlier unhappy marriage, maintained an old-fashioned formality.
The cardinal said that "millions of children have been slaughtered" and, in the context of what he saw as a trend toward redefining marriage, maintained that society was plagued by "sexually unbridled permissiveness".
While attempting to adhere to the medical advice, the interviewed women struggled to adequately nurture their children, protect their marriages and maintain their social status.
This, in spite of the fact that all states with marriage equality laws specifically exempt from performing same gender marriages those religions that maintain marriage is only between "one man and one woman".
By continuing to emphasize biological family ties, Blankenhorn could endorse same-sex marriage yet maintain the second-class status of families formed by same-sex couples.
"Traditional" marriage advocates sometimes maintain that marriage-equality is a slippery slope: First gay marriage, next polygamy.
