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8 - Same-Sex Marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2013

Michael J. Perry
Michael J. Perry
Affiliation:
Emory University School of Law
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Summary

The two rights that bear most directly on the constitutional controversy addressed in this chapter are the two rights elaborated in the preceding two chapters: right to moral equality and the right to religious and moral freedom. Does what we may call “the exclusion policy” – excluding same-sex couples from civil marriage – violate either right?

WHAT IS MARRIAGE?

In their essay, “What Is Marriage?,” Sherif Girgis, Robert George, and Ryan Anderson argue that we should adhere in our law to a particular understanding of “marriage,” which, following the authors, we may call the “conjugal” understanding. According to the conjugal understanding, as the authors explain:

  1. A couple is accurately described as “married” if and only if their relationship satisfies certain conditions, one of which is procreative – biologically procreative – complementarity.

  2. The relationship of no same-sex couple satisfies the procreative complementarity condition.

  3. Therefore, no same-sex couple is accurately described as “married” (according to the conjugal understanding).

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Chapter
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Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States , pp. 136 - 157
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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  • Same-Sex Marriage
  • Michael J. Perry
  • Book: Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States
  • Online publication: 05 July 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139814829.012
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  • Same-Sex Marriage
  • Michael J. Perry
  • Book: Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States
  • Online publication: 05 July 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139814829.012
Available formats
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  • Same-Sex Marriage
  • Michael J. Perry
  • Book: Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States
  • Online publication: 05 July 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139814829.012
Available formats
×