AN ARGUMENT FOR POLYAMOROUS MARRIAGE
P1. If there is equal dignity in the bond between two men and three men who seek to marry, then the Constitution grants three men the right to marry if two men can
P2. There is equal dignity in the bond between two men and three men who seek to marry
C. Therefore the Constitution grants three men the right to marry if two men can
CONSERVATIVE COMMENTARY
Justice Kennedy said in the opinion of the court (Obergefell vs Hodges, 2015):
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf
respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Chief Justice Roberts replied:
It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage. If “[t]here is dignity in the bond
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf
between two men or two women who seek to marry and in their autonomy to make such profound choices,” ante, at 13, why would there be any less dignity in the bond between three people who, in exercising their autonomy, seek to make the profound choice to marry?
From this exchange it seems that Justice Kennedy’s claim proves far too much as pointed out by Chief Justice Roberts. If the Constitution truly requires two men equal dignity in the eyes of the law (compared to a man and woman) then surely the same argument also applies to three men.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Ryan T. Anderson – How the Media Are Promoting Polyamory: The New ‘Marriage Equality’?