The Marriage Revolution
By Sean Evans, Chair and Professor of Political Science
May 2, 2015 -
In 1988, 11% of Americans supported same sex marriage. Today, approximately 60% support it and the Supreme Court is on the verge of declaring it a constitutional right. How could a definition of marriage that has lasted for millennia change in such a short time period?
It begins with a belief that humans are rational beings who are the best judge for what is good for oneself. If true, then the only reason to limit one’s freedom is to prevent harm to another person. These ideas can promote an extreme individualism.
Historically though, religion and tradition have served as a constraint on our selfish desires. However, a more recent belief that we cannot know what is true or where to begin the search for truth has led some to elevate tolerance as a value. Tolerance, theoretically, leads to a promotion of all viewpoints as equally valid but, in many instances, has led to the rejection of viewpoints that believe absolute truth exists, such as religion.
Thus, tolerance combined with a new conception of freedom began to marginalize religion. Instead of seeing freedom as freedom from governmental interference, many believe government should remove obstacles to personal fulfillment, such as poverty, ignorance, discrimination, and illness. With some claiming religious opposition to gay rights is bigotry and others viewing religion as irrational, many push to exclude religiously motivated beliefs and conduct from public life.
With fewer societal or personal restraints on individuals, we have created a society where any individual choice is valid and personal fulfillment, often of a baser nature, is the goal of life.
These ideas when turned into law become accepted and shape future behavior. While all legal changes have tradeoffs, a consequence of the legalization of contraception and abortion is to help break the link among sex, marriage, and children while no-fault divorce helps legitimize the idea that marriage should last only as long as both parties are mutually satisfied. These legal changes further teach people that marriage is not a permanent, exclusive union between a man and woman for love, children, and protection but is an emotional union between two people. Consequently, these changes contribute to a rise in divorce, cohabitation, single parent families, and children born out of wedlock.
This decline of the heterosexual marriage culture undermined arguments against same sex marriage while a new political strategy increased public support for it. Beginning in the 1990s, the homosexual community began a two prong approach to show that homosexuals are just like everyone else. First, they pushed to have more homosexuals portrayed positively in TV shows and movies. Second, they emphasized “coming out.” The more people who came out, the more likely one would know someone who is gay, and thus, the more likely one would support gay rights. Now when people think of discrimination against homosexuals, they do not think of a faceless homosexual but of a gay friend or TV character which makes gay rights more popular.
Slowly with each court decision that expanded gay rights, each legislature that enacted same sex marriage, and each opinion leader, such as President Obama, who endorsed it, same sex marriage became more acceptable and public support for it increased.
Whether the marriage culture has hit rock bottom, can improve, or get worse, people can disagree. We can’t disagree that a marriage revolution has occurred.
This column originally appeared in the May 2nd edition of The Jackson Sun