Here’s a letter of mine that appears in today’s Washington Times:
Thomas Sowell‘s
case against affirmative action is sound; his case against same-sex
marriage is not ("Affirmative action and gay marriage are frauds,"
Commentary, Sunday).
It’s true that marriage laws emerged largely to deal with fact that
heterosexual couples have children. But this fact does not imply –
contrary to Mr. Sowell’s careless claim – that "the government has a
vested interest in unions that, among other things, have the potential
to produce children, which is to say, the future population of the
nation." Certainly in a free country, the state has no business
governing in any way or for any purpose people’s decisions on having
children.
Additionally, the "married couple" has become a legal entity with
unique status under tax, property, insurance and estate laws. Being
married also carries with it important, largely positive, social
implications. The fact that gay couples cannot (by conventional means)
have children is no reason to deny these couples such status.
DONALD J. BOUDREAUX
Chairman
Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax
