Litigating Same-Sex Marriage: Might the Courts Actually Be Bastions of Rationality?

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Abstract

The great political philosopher John Stuart Mill once asked, “Was there any domination which did not appear natural to those that possessed it?” (Mill 1984, 269–270). For same-sex couples seeking access to the institution of marriage, the public sense that marriage is naturally and obviously meant only for opposite-sex couples has been a formidable barrier. The first state supreme courts to rule on same-sex marriage, in the early 1970s, simply relied upon dictionary definitions to hold that marriage was obviously a heterosexual institution. 1 Politicians mostly ignored the issue altogether until the courts of Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts forced public debate of the issue.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)217-220
JournalPS-Political Science & Politics
Volume38
Issue number2
StatePublished - Apr 2005

Disciplines

  • Political Science

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