Law Commons^™

The Defense Of Traditional Marriage, George W. Dent

Faculty Publications

This article reviews the possible justifications for legal recognition of marriage and finds some, such as encouraging stable, loving relationships, unpersuasive. However, other rationales-including protecting children, socializing adults, and promoting individual happiness-are valid, and these rationales apply only to traditional marriages. Accordingly, society has strong reasons to favor traditional marriage and to deny such treatment to the unmarried and to homosexual, endogamous and bestial relationships.