Global Clarity over Cultural Confusion on Marriage and Marriage-like Expansion

A ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently determined that there is no human right to marriage expansion. In a recent Daily Mail article entitled "Gay marriage is not a 'human right'" at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117920/Gay-marriage-human-right-European-ruling-torpedoes-Coalition-stance.html, the ECHR ruled that no human has a right to marriage as he or she deems appropriate.

Europe is struggling with marriage, as recent political events in France seems to indicate a carefree attitude on the legal status of marriage. "As the world adjusts to a France without Nicolas Sarkozy, scrutiny turns to president-elect Francois Hollande and his domestic partner, journalist Valerie Trierweiler. The couple have been living together since 2007 and have no intention to get married in the short term..." The immediate result of this non-marital arrangement is that President Hollande will not be able to visit some nations without a first lady. Read the entire article at CBS News story at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-57429378-503543/french-president-elects-domestic-status-a-yawn-for-tolerant-french/.

Marriage, its meaning, definition, and requirements for entry are all questions before several federal courts in the past few months. With each case, courts are finding that marriage is a legal relationship between one man and one woman of minimum age who are otherwise unrelated by blood or affinity. See the Lawyers.com article entitled "Federal Court Decisions Chip Away at Same-Sex Marriage Ban" at http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=ca2e88b6-5f8c-4b51-9556-7f9dcb5d077d
for a good overview of the current state of this matter of marriage in the federal courts.

In the midst of cultural confusion on marriage, the law is becoming more clear to judicial authorities around the globe. Marriage is inherent. I have published on this area before, particularly regarding how marriage expansion affects marriage, in "How Will the Proliferation and Recognition of Domestic Partnerships Affect Marriage?" 4 J. FAM. STUD. 105 (2002), which is also available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=269418, has been cited numerously, and is used in the University of Pittsburgh Law School Family Law course taught by Professor Margaret M. Mahoney. See some of my other research on the effects that marriage expansion has on law and culture in "The Collateral Effects of Civil Unions on Family Law," 11 WIDENER J. PUB. L. 451 (2002), which can also be found with some of my other works on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at http://ssrn.com/author=183817.

Family restoration is needed around the globe. Global clarity is coming to the law, even in the midst of cultural confusion in some nations. Not even framing marriage expansion as a human rights cause of action can alter the obvious nature of the time honored institution of marriage.

Defense of Marriage Stabilizes Marriage for New Yorkers

The debate over marriage in New York has taken on some new details in New York, a state that does not have any sort of protection for marriage in terms of a constitutional amendment, or a state defense of marriage act. One State Senator has proposed a Defense of Marriage Bill for that state.
According to the New York Daily News, at http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/05/sen-golden-brings-ny-defense-of-marriage-bill, this bill would reverse former Governor Patterson's Executive Order that mandated recognition of same sex marriages performed in other states. The text of this bill can be found at http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S5416-2011.
Stable marriage laws are at the core of family restoration. This fact is particularly important in light of uncertain economic times. New research by Professors June Carbone and Naomi Cahn suggest that women are getting married at later ages - and that the divorce rate is going down. "The results reflect some good news -- later marriages are more likely to last. Most importantly, however, these figures correlate with widespread changes in the American family." See their article in the Huffington Post entitled Changing Marriage Patterns Reflect Economics and Class at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/june-carbone/changing-marriage-pattern_b_864688.html.
Marriage is critical to family restoration, and expanding it will not stabilize family life in New York, or in America generally. More journalists and scholars are writing on why same sex marriage will not work for a stable society.
"Throughout its grand history, America has regularly been willing to reevaluate cultural norms, especially when the change that challenges the status quo promises to right a wrong or advance and improve the social welfare. Many of these watershed movements have delivered precisely and as powerfully as promised (woman's suffrage and civil rights) while others have failed (prohibition and no-fault divorce). Historically, American voters have been blunt in evaluating the wisdom of social change. When a bad idea, which was originally considered to be good, slips through and into law, the American people haven't been shy about fighting for its repeal and holding corresponding leaders to account. With the benefit of the new media and widespread access to endless streams of data, voters are now able to even more quickly discern fact from fiction and evidence from mere promise. It's in part from this context that ... the ongoing marriage debate in the New York state legislature [is significant]. Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared the legalization of same-sex marriage his number one priority. Supporters are waging a clever, celebrity- driven and well-funded campaign, suggesting that all they want is 'marriage equality.' In fact, what they want to do is redefine this multi-millennial institution."
Read the entire article at: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/24/sex-marriage-experiment-work/#ixzz1NwxNhZC7, or at http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/24/sex-marriage-experiment-work/?test=faces
Costa Rica may be an example for New York to look to, as that nation has recently ruled on a same sex marriage case, rejecting that such an arrangement fosters family stability as established by that nations code. Read the article from the Daily News at http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2011/may/25/costarica11052502.htm.
New York's battle for marriage law is a battle over societal stability in uncertain times. Stable marriage laws are at the core of family restoration, and New Yorkers and their elected representatives will play out this scenario before the world this summer.

How DOMA and Prop 8 Could Impact You and Your Family

The U.S. Department of Justice unilaterally decided that it will no longer be defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the lawsuits currently pending against it. While some in Congress are stepping in to defend DOMA legally, others in Congress have already introduced legislation to repeal it: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1116ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr1116ih.pdf.  You may want to be informed about the implications of this for your family. 

Likewise, the California marriage case surrounding the constitutionality of Proposition 8 also presents serious consequences to American families in all the 50 states, as it could redefine marriage for the entire nation.  Currently, the Ninth Circuit has maintained that same sex weddings shall not be recognized during the pending appeal of Proposition 8 (see http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/23/BA9G1II16S.DTL&tsp=1).  This latest decision allows the appeal to move forward in a constitutional manner, enforcing the court's original injunction on new same sex marriages in California.  To read more on this decision, click here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2011/03/23/10-16696_order.pdf.  Links to all the judicial proceedings on Proposition 8 can be accessed at: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/content/view.php?pk_id=0000000513. 

There are many implications that bear consideration in federal expansion of marriage.  For example, some suggest that same sex marriages could lead to an increase in polygamy, according to this Washington Times article:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/20/same-sex-marriages-give-polygamy-a-legal-boost/#.  Others might affect you and your family more directly.

You, your children and your family could experience unintended consequences if marriage is redefined in our country on a federal level, either by a denial of Proposition 8, or a denial of DOMA.  These consequences, however, are not often readily apparent, as the experience in Massachusetts demonstrates: Shortly after same-sex marriage was mandated in Massachusetts by that state's highest court, a few parents realized their children were being taught that same-sex unions were normal, natural and the moral equivalent of marriage between a man and a woman. These parents attempted to opt their children out of these public school lessons, but were ultimately unsuccessful in a court of law. Two federal courts in Massachusetts, including the appeals court just below the U.S. Supreme Court, determined that because same-sex marriage was legally recognized in Massachusetts, parents no longer had the right to determine whether or what their children would be taught about these relationships. 

Marriage became a social issue in the classroom.  DOMA defines marriage in all federal laws as the union of a man and a woman, and protects the ability of states to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states.  Given what happened in Massachusetts, it is imperative that DOMA be defended well.  It is also imperative that states like California can continue to determine their own marriage policy, as it attempted to do with the passage of Prop. 8.

Social commentators are writing about the importance of marriage in new ways, as in this article on "Why Monogamy Matters" at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07douthat.html?src=me&ref=homepage, detailing the results of marriage expansion in future societal decline.  Monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is critical to any society's future.

And those who choose to marry and become parents have a constitutionally protected fundamental right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children.  DOMA and Proposition 8 protect that right, but it hangs in the balance as courts continue to consider the constitutionality of each, even though state elected defenders and federal Department of Justice attorneys refuse to protect these state and federal laws.