These questions will reverberate across the legal and political landscape in coming months. True enough, the court's opinion does not overturn any statute. But it tells us a lot about what is at stake in the legal definition of marriage. Our statutes, after all, embody an understanding of marriage. A marriage is formed by a man and a woman, equal yet different, who join their lives to form a family.
Marriage aspires to permanence, fidelity, and children.
Marriage law recognizes and supports these aspirations. This view of marriage has been under intense attack for at least 50 years. Yet it has not been displaced. Fidelity has been de-emphasized in the culture at large, yet marriage still includes only two persons. Meanwhile, socially, as opposed to legally, marriage continues to have tremendous appeal.