US Judge: Those who say gay marriage is bad for the economy ‘are not serious people’
A federal judge who recently struck down Kentucky’s same-sex marriage ban has said those who argue that because gay couples cannot procreate, same-sex marriage does not benefit the economy, “are not serious people”.
Declaring the marriage ban unconstitutional earlier this week, US District Judge John Heyburn wrote: “In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted.”
Judge Heyburn shut down arguments that only opposite-sex couples naturally produce children, and so the state has an “economic interest” in continuing the ban same-sex couples from marrying.
In his conclusion, Judge Heyburn wrote: “These arguments are not those of serious people. Though it seems almost unnecessary to explain, here are the reasons why. Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have.”
“The state’s attempts to connect the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage to its interest in economic stability and in ‘ensuring humanity’s continued existence’ are at best illogical and even bewildering,” he concluded.
The decision will go to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is also set to review federal decisions on same-sex marriage cases in Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
