A case for gay marriage

This month, Rhode Island and Delaware approved gay marriage. In June, the U. Supreme Court could restore it in California. The cascade extends beyond marriage. America is rethinking its whole relationship with its gay citizens. Glance instead at deep-red South Carolina.

Now, this is not a man who has done right by marriage. Rather, he used it as a doormat. As governor, Sanford took a mistressthen disappeared for days on a visit to her in Argentina and lied about it. He lost his job and his marriage. But last week, the voters chose to overlook both his infidelity and his mendacity.

But no matter how shabbily straights treat their vows, they qualify not only for marriage but also for Congress. When millions of Americans see straight people busting up marriages while gay people struggle to form them, they draw the obvious, and correct, conclusion.

America needs more marriages, not fewer. Researchers find that blue states have lower rates of divorce and teen pregnancy than red states do.

A decade after the U.S. legalized gay marriage, Jim Obergefell says the fight isn't over

But it is part and parcel of a re-commitment to family values, not a flight from them. Same-sex marriage is socially conservative in that sense — and in a deeper sense, too. The movement is about equality and rights, yes, but it is also about responsibility and obligation.

Marriage joins couples not just in a contract with each other but also in a pact with their community, their kids, their God and millenniums of custom. Gay and lesbian Americans yearn for those bonds. They are asking to be constrained, not liberated: to be tied to a commitment larger than themselves, larger even than each other.

That is why same-sex marriage is cascading. The public looks at marriage equality and sees the greatest social conservative movement of our time. And, at least outside South Carolina, it looks at Mark Sanford and sees something else. The Brookings Institution is committed to quality, independence, and impact.

We are supported by a diverse array of funders. In line with our values and policieseach Brookings publication represents the sole views of its author s. Governance Studies. Conservative Case for Gay Marriage. Sections Sections. Sign Up.