Name the issue this is arguing.

"We start with the proposition, on this connection, that it is the family which constitutes the structural element of society; and that marriage is the legal basis upon which families are formed. Consequently, this Court has held, in numeous decisions over the years, that society is structured on the institution of marriage; that it has more to do with the welfare and civilizations of a people than any other institutions...

It is clear, from the most recent available evidence on the psycho-sociological aspect of this question that (these) families are subjected to much greater pressures and problems than are (others), and that the state's prohibition of (this kind of) marriage , for this reason, stands on the same footing as the prohibition of polygamous marriage, or incestuous marriage, or the prescription of minimum ages at which people may marry, and the prevention of the marriage of people who are mentally incompetent."

"(A textbook states the) opinion that 'it is my conviction that is definitely inadvisable; that they are wrong because they are most frequently, if not solely, entered into under present-day circumstances by people who have a rebellious attitude toward society, self-hatred, neurotic tendencies, immaturity, and other detrimental psychological factors.'"

"It is the attitude which society has toward (these) marriages, which in detailing his opposition, (the textbook author) says, 'causes a child to have almost insuperable difficulties in identification,' and that the problems which the child of (such a) marriage faces are those which no child can come through without damage to himself."

"Now, if the state has an interest in marriage, if it has an interest in maximizing the number of stable marriages, and in protecting the progeny of ... marriages from these problems, then clearly there is scientific evidence available that this is so."


These were oral arguments made by the attorney for Virginia in 1967's Loving v. Virginia... the marriages referred to were interracial. (I love that I work in a place cluttered with legal books.) Any difference between this and the anti-gay marriage haters? And what are the chances that like Loving v. Virginia, a challenge to the legality of gay marriage would be decided unanimously by today's Supreme Court?