Children Of Same-Sex Parents

AN ARGUMENT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

P1. Children living with same-sex parents deserve the protection of marriage

P2. Same-sex marriage grants children living with same-sex parents the protection of marriage 

C. Therefore children living with same-sex parents deserve same-sex marriage


CONSERVATIVE COMMENTARY

This argument is also used for:

P1 is relatively uncontroversial as children usually have no say in the family they find themselves in, and all children deserve the protection of marriage. P2 is also true, however the conclusion assumes that the only way to grant the protection of marriage to children of same-sex parents is to extend the rights of marriage to the parents, which is not the case.

In addition, the argument is equally applicable to other forms of marriage such as polyamory and sologamy. In his dissent (Obergefell vs. Hodges, 2015), Chief Justice Roberts said:

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 a same-sex couple has the constitutional right to marry because their children would otherwise “suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser,” ante, at 15, why wouldn’t the same reasoning apply to a family of three or more persons raising children?

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf