`Procreationist' line on gay marriage leaves logic behind

BOSTON -- Now I got it. After hours spent poring over Washington state's Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on same-sex marriage, I've finally figured it out. The court wasn't just ruling against same-sex marriage. It was ruling in favor of "procreationist marriage."

This is the heart of the opinion written by Justice Barbara Madsen: "Limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to survival of the human race, and furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children's biological parents." In short, the state's wedding bells are ringing for procreators.

Well if that's true, isn't it time for the legislatures in Washington and in New York, which issued a similar ruling against same-sex marriage this summer, to follow their own logic? If marriage is for procreation, shouldn't they refuse to wed anyone past menopause? Shouldn't they withhold a license, let alone blessings and benefits, from anyone who is infertile? As for those who choose to be childless - nothing borrowed or blue for them. Indeed, the state could offer young couples licenses with sunset clauses. After five years, they have to put up (kids) or split up.

Of course, the states' other interest is in families "headed by the children's biological parents." Why, then, give licenses to the couples who are raising 1.5 million adopted children? We can ban those blended families like, say, the Brady Bunch. And surely we should release partners from their vows upon delivery of their offspring to the nearest college campus.

This is where the courts' reasoning leads us, and I use the word "reasoning" loosely. If anything, these two decisions are proof that the courts and the country are running out of reasons for treating straight and gay citizens differently.

Since the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, gay sex is no longer a crime. Today, while some straight couples cannot or do not procreate, some gay couples do, using all the old and new technologies.

Gays aren't banned from fertility clinics. They aren't the slam-dunk losers in divorce custody fights. Even Arkansas has ruled that gay couples can become foster parents. And New York and Washington, the states now refusing to let gays marry, have supported gay adoption.