MARRIAGE RIGHTS, JUDGING, AND GENDER: Matt Taylor replies to Mark Tardiff

Mark Tardiff writes:

"Let us imagine that the Goodridge case had come before justices who shared the founders' vision of reality and, as far as I can see, the vision still held by most Americans today. According to this vision, which underlies our Constitution, there is a natural law and a natural order guaranteed by the Creator. In this worldview gender is a natural reality ... If gender and marriage are natural realities, then SSM is not a right; it is an oxymoron."

I agree with Mark's critique of Goodridge, if I understand him right: The state has a rational basis for using the traditional, male-female definition of marriage, simply as a historical and biological fact. I also agree that the law and social institutions must fit human nature if they are to succeed; the colossal failure of communism proves the point quite well.

The logical conclusion seems to be that society should only recognize male-female relationships, since that fits the natural order of human gender. But if we really want natural law to guide us, we need to remove our cultural lens and take a closer look at nature itself, i.e. apply the scientific method. Empirical evidence refutes the radical feminist notion that gender is entirely cultural, but it also refutes the orthodox religious view that gender is an eternal, absolute dichotomy. Homosexuality, transgender identity, intersex and other variations on gender were not invented by a few university intellectuals; they are natural reality for real people. This is unambiguous, for example, in the case of "true hermaphrodites" (46XX,46XY/mosaic); people in this category are born with both male and female reproductive tissue, and have a mixture of male and female chromosomes.

As a general rule, Mark is right that people are male and female, marriage is heterosexual and children are raised by their mother and father; the existing institution of marriage fits this pattern quite well. However, the rule has exceptions, and people who happen to be exceptions shouldn't be entirely written off in our social and legal institutions. Doing so denies the complexity of gender inherent in the natural order.
posted by Eve at 1:50 AM VOTE

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