Science Is No Substitute for Civil Rights

We don't need a peer-reviewed study to tell us that having a gay dad is just like having a straight dad. But Justice Alito claims he won't believe it otherwise.

Perhaps the most offensive suggestion out of the Supreme Court's hearing on Proposition 8 in March came from Justice Samuel Alito, who warned that newfangled same-sex marriages are experimental.

"You want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cell phones or the Internet?" asked Alito. Sure, nothing bad has happened so far, but "we do not have the ability to see the future."

Maybe gays getting married isn't a civil rights issue, Alito implied. Maybe it's more like vetting a new pharmaceutical drug. Maybe we should commission clinical trials and years of studies proving there aren't harmful side effects that need listing in small print on our gay-marriage licenses.

Because people who think like this hold positions of power, here come the studies. Here come the researchers arguing over esoteric matters such as sample size. LGBT people and our families become all the more dehumanized as a result.

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/06/10/op-ed-science-no-substitute-civil-rights-march