The Future of Marriage

The idea of this book began in a conversation David Blankenhorn had with the president of Freedom to Marry, a group advocating equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. This man asked Blankenhorn, a leading figure in the “marriage movement,” to endorse his group’s objectives. Feeling a bit defensive, Blankenhorn replied, “Every child deserves a mother and a father.” The Future of Marriage is the result of that conversation. In their current demands, Blankenhorn points out, gay and lesbian leaders are not asking for marriage with an adjective in front of it, but marriage itself. So in that sense, what marriage is and why it matters is ultimately what this debate is all about. What exactly is this institution to which gay and lesbian activists are seeking access? Why do we have it in the first place? Where did it come from? What is it for? How is it changing? These are some of the hard questions The Future of Marriage confronts. David Blankenhorn says that if same sex marriage debate is to be “redemptive rather than merely divisive,” it must accept the principle that all persons are equal in dignity. But it must also help us to rediscover and renew marriage as the main protector of our children and our primary social institution.