Well, lots more. This new report about a civil union between three people (a man and two women) in Brazil suggests that those of us worried about the slippery slope aren’t out of our minds.
I should say that Brazil and South America in general has a much stronger political tradition on the Left than in the United States, and so the truisms of the Left (“marriage is what we say it is”) are more likely to be followed to their logical conclusions. But as many have pointed out, plural marriage is a logical conclusion of the “equality” argument made on behalf of same-sex marriage. In fact, the logical conclusion of same-sex marriage is the end of marriage as a normative institution. Its logic is that we can have sex, babies, and domestic contracts in whatever styles and arrangements suit our desires.
I’m not one who thinks that social reality invariably follows to logical conclusions. (Even though it’s often a good bet when it comes to many social trends, the slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy.) My guess is that marriage between a man and women for the sake of children will remain quasi-normative in America, in part because it is actually gaining strength among the upper middle class and elites. But there’s little doubt in my mind that “redefining” marriage weakens it as an institution.
And has been the case for most of the personal liberation projects since the 1960s, the poorest and most vulnerable will pay the price.
