Absurdity awaits us

Tony Staley
Compass Editor

If advocates of same-sex marriage convince courts across the nation that bans on the practice violate their constitutional rights states might as well repeal most laws regulating marriage.

How, for example, could a court that rules gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry refuse to allow a brother and a sister to marry each other? Or a parent and their adult child? Or two brothers? Or two sisters? Certainly, their constitutional protections and rights are the same as homosexuals'.

How could laws against polygamy and polyandry be upheld? Certainly a constitution that can't ban same-sex marriages could not discriminate against persons with more than one spouse.

Probably the only marriage bans that would hold up to such a reading of the Constitution would be those barring adults from marrying minors and animals, who can't give informed consent. Other than that, it would appear that, if courts rule that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry, so must any other adult humans if we are to avoid a constitutional double standard.

Absurd? Of course. But what other choice will the courts leave us?