Description
In their current demands, Blankenhorn points out, gay and lesbian leaders are not asking for marriage with the adjective gay in front of it, but marriage itself. So in that sense, what marriage is and why it matters are ultimately what this debate is all about. The Future of Marriage answers the whats and the whys of our most important-and troubled-social institution.
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Prompted to explore the issue by the recent debates over the legalization of gay marriage, self-described "marriage advocate" Blankenhorn (founder and president, Institute for American Values, "a nonpartisan organization devoted to strengthening families and civil society") addresses the future of marriage only after investigating its past through a blend of cross-cultural historical and anthropological argument that finds marriage to be a universal or near-universal human institution that is intrinsically about raising children. He therefore frets about what he sees as a de-institutionalization of marriage driven by the spread of unwed childbearing, the spread of divorce, the spread of same-sex marriage, and the spread of third-party participants in reproduction (which he links with "the decline of the idea that children have a birthright their own two natural parents, a mother and a father"). Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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