Greg Abbott: Texas gay marriage ban reduces out-of-wedlock births [View all]

[herding cats]

AUSTIN – Attorney General Greg Abbott says Texas’ same-sex marriage ban should remain in place because legalizing it would do little or nothing to encourage heterosexual couples to get married and have children.

Writing in a brief filed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Abbott said the state was not obligated to prove why gay marriage might be detrimental to the economic or social well-being of Texans. It was only required to show how opposite-sex marriage would be more beneficial for its citizens.

“The State is not required to show that recognizing same-sex marriage will undermine heterosexual marriage,” the brief read. “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriages will.”

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He added, “Second, Texas’s marriage laws are rationally related to the State’s interest in reducing unplanned out-of-wedlock births. By channeling procreative heterosexual intercourse into marriage, Texas’s marriage laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the costs that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.”

In the brief, Abbott concedes that same-sex marriage might have some positive effects for society, like increasing household wealth and adoptions or providing a more stable environment for children raised by gay couples. While there might be benefits, however, he said it’s for the Legislature, not the courts, to decide whether to expand the right to marry.
http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2014/10/abbott-texas-gay-marriage-ban-reduces-out-of-wedlock-births/

I am floored by the level of ignorance and misogyny in this statement. If out of wedlock births are so feared by the Texas AG they they need to address poverty in their state which is a cause, or maybe try providing access to birthcontrol for the impoverish in the state, not limiting it even further. Medicaid expansion in the state would have a direct effect on decreasing the number of unwed couples making babies down there, but gay marriage is what they want to blame the problem on?

On a brighter note, If you're a gay person in Texas wanting to get married in the near future, I don't see how even the conservative stuffed fifth circuit court is going to be able to rule in favor of this lame argument.