What I learned at AEI

Too many people on the Right are panicking instead of thinking when it comes to same-sex marriage. If gay marriage is enacted, gay couples will get the same legal protections of marriage, but that's hardly the most of it. The straight world gets another irreplacable benefit: the stability that comes from knitting people into families. Above all, the institution of marriage itself is a likely beneficiary of same-sex marriage. The fundamental principal for all Americans, straight or gay, ought to be that sex, love, and marriage go together, automatically. The ban on gay marriage favored by many conservatives won't stop societal recognition from flowing to these couples eventually. Over time, as the national consensus moves towards equality for homosexuals, there is a serious risk that marriage will be stigmatized and marginalized if it is legally demarcated as a discriminatory institution.