Robert George, a co-founder of the
National Organization for Marriage (NOM), argues in Conjugal
Union that gay and lesbian couples cannot marry because, like
12-year-olds, they are disqualified from marriage.
In the book, co-written with Patrick
Lee, George, who co-authored the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) in
2001, equates age and gender restrictions in entering marriage
“Just as the distinction between
eighteen-year-olds and twelve-year-olds is relevant to the purpose of
marriage – because the former but not the latter are actually able
to form the union that is marriage – in the same way, the
distinction between opposite-sex couples and same-sex partners is
relevant to the purpose of the marriage statute, because the former
but not the latter can actually form the kind of union that marriage
is,” George
writes.
“Two people of the same sex cannot
truly be married, any more than a pair of twelve-year-olds can be
married – they are unable to form the kind of union marriage is: a
conjugal union.”
GoodAsYou.org's
Jeremy Hooper responded: “It is the height of arrogance for Mr.
George to suggest that my husband and I – tax-paying adults who are
way past eighteen, legally married for many years (and together for
many before that), with a daughter to whom we are exceedingly
committed, as we are to each other – are no more qualified than a
pair of sixth graders. It's also gallingly arrogant for him to
suggest that two eighteen-year-olds are more qualified by the sole
virtue of being heterosexual.”