Fifth Circuit on Gay "Marriage"

The Fifth Circuit ruled that one cannot obtain a "divorce" if one is in a gay "marriage."

Observations from Wm. Duncan which will have import as the California case progresses:

"Where Judge Walker believed the only rationale for defining marriage as the union of a husband and wife was animus, the Texas decision found legitimate state interests in doing so:

● “The state has a legitimate interest in promoting the raising of children in the optimal familial setting. It is reasonable for the state to conclude that the optimal familial setting for the raising of children is the household headed by an opposite-sex couple.”

● “Because only relationships between opposite-sex couples can naturally produce children, it is reasonable for the state to afford unique legal recognition to that particular social unit in the form of opposite-sex marriage.”

● “The legislature could reasonably conclude that the institution of civil marriage as it has existed in this country from the beginning has successfully provided this desirable social structure and should be preserved.”

● “The state also could have rationally concluded that children are benefited by being exposed to and influenced by the beneficial and distinguishing attributes a man and a woman individually and collectively contribute to the relationship.”

One suspects that Justice Walker will have a whole day ruined in the not-distant future.

HT: Shepherd