Are there secular reasons for thinking that gay marriages might undermine the institution of marriage? If there are, they should be taken seriously. If society’s goal is to support and encourage marriage, then of course it shouldn’t do anything that would harm marriage in the long run. Unfortunately for opponents of same-sex marriages, there are no valid secular reasons for thinking that allowing gay couples to marry will have any deleterious effects on marriage generally.
Mark Strasser writes in Legally Wed:
The right to marry is fundamental and it is a violation of Substantive Due Process for states to abridge fundamental rights without compelling reasons to do so. The Supreme Court has articulated several interests that are served by marriage, all of which apply to same-sex as well as opposite-sex unions. Thus far, states have failed to articulate the compelling interests that are served by same-sex marriage bans.
Some courts and commentators argue that there is no fundamental right to marry a same-sex partner. The test cited to establish that thesis, however, is not the appropriate test, since it might also be used to establish that there are no fundamental rights to contraception, abortion, or interracial marriage. ...The states’ refusal to recognize same-sex marriages and the courts’ complicity in upholding those refusals have implications that affect everyone. The law of domestic relations has to be turned on its head to justify such bans. Such fundamental changes in the law bode poorly for the protection of fundamental rights generally and numerous kinds of family specifically.
Marriage is a civil right that is not now and has never been dependent upon any one religion or even religion in general for its justification, existence, or perpetuation. Marriage exists because people desire it and the community, working through the government, helps ensure that married couples are able to do what they need to in order to survive. At no point is religion needed or necessarily relevant.
What this means it that religious arguments against gay marriage are, at best, beside the point. They are irrelevant. They don’t matter. Anyone trying to offer religious arguments against gay marriage are at best missing the point; at worst, they are deliberately evading the real issues because they know they can’t address those issues. Without secular arguments, though, they have no legitimate reasons for opposing civil marriage for gay couples.
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