factor in deciding who counts as a parent,
The Institution
Formerly Known
as Marriage
By Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.
The essential public purpose of marriage is
to attach mothers and fathers to their
children and to one another. Judge Vaughn
Walker's ruling overturning California's
Proposition 8 illustrates that he does not
understand this basic point.
He replaces this public purpose with private
purposes of adults' feelings and desires. He
approvingly quotes a historian who explains
that marriage is "a couple's choice to live
with each other, to remain committed to one
another, and to form a household based on
their own feelings about one another, and
their agreement to join in an economic
partnership and support one another in terms
of the material needs of life."
Nothing about children. No understanding
that marriage connects generations. By the
time Judge Walker and his ilk are finished,
there will be nothing left of marriage but a
government registry of friendships.
There are two big problems with this. First,
"marriage" will no longer solve the essential
problem of attaching children to their
mothers and fathers. Instead of using
biology or legal adoption as the determining
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse • 663 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road Suite 222 San Marcos CA 92078
www.jennifer-roback-morse.com • email: drj@jennifer-roback-morse.com • 760/295-9278
©2007 No part of this document may be reproduced or disseminated in any way without the expressed written consent of the
Ruth Institute.
the courts are inventing a new kind of
parenthood to resolve these disputes.
"De Facto Parent" is the legal invention that
usually involves court-created "tests" to
decide whether a person has wiped enough
noses and changed enough diapers to count
as a "parent in fact." The natural meaning of
"mother" and "father" as biological
categories are being replaced by a new kind
of parenthood that expands the authority and
discretion of the family courts.
This redefinition of parenthood is a natural
by-product of the redefinition of marriage.
Judge Walker's decision Wednesday to
redefine marriage is a catalyst for this
redefinition of parenthood.
But the second big problem with turning
marriage into a government registry of
friendships is just this: It makes the legal
recognition seem unnecessary. And that will
lead some people to say, who needs
marriage at all? Let's just get rid of
marriage, or get the state out of marriage, or
tear down all the social, legal and
institutional structures around marriage.
That's not so bad for people who have no
intention of having children and who get
married as a status symbol. But it is not so
great for people who do have children. And
it's not so great for children themselves.
Children have a legitimate interest in
knowing their own parents and their
biological origins. Every mother needs to
know who counts as the father of her
children and who has legal responsibility for
her children.
It is no good to say that parenthood is
whatever the adults say it is, and the
government can remain "neutral." The first
time a group of adults disputes about what
their parenting "contract" means, the
government will be involved, using criteria
of its own.
Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. is an
economist and the Founder and President of
the Ruth Institute, a nonprofit educational
organization devoted to bringing hope and
encouragement for lifelong married love.
She is also the author of Love and
Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a
Village and Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long
Love in a Hook-Up World.

Once again, redefining marriage increases

the authority and discretion of the family
courts. The natural concept of mother and
father as biological realities will be
undermined.

Surely the voters have the right to be

consulted before making such a major
change in public policy. This is just one of
the many ways that redefining marriage to
be the union of any two persons will affect
everyone.

Judge Walker has no right to disparage the

voters of California the way he does in this
opinion. Let the democratic process play
itself out. We have plenty to talk about,
without judges telling us we are all bigots
unless we agree with them.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse • 663 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road Suite 222 San Marcos CA 92078
www.jennifer-roback-morse.com • email: drj@jennifer-roback-morse.com • 760/295-9278
©2007 No part of this document may be reproduced or disseminated in any way without the expressed written consent of the
Ruth Institute.