A Utah State University professor is
defending signing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to
uphold state gay marriage bans.
Richard Sherlock, a professor of
philosophy at Utah State University (USU), was among the “100
scholars of marriage” who signed an amicus brief in support
of state bans on gay marriage in a case argued before the Supreme
Court last month.
In the brief, attorney Gene Schaerr
argues, among other things, that allowing gay couples to marry would
lead to 900,000 additional abortions over the next 30 years.
Sherlock told the Herald Journal
in Logan that allowing gay couples to marry nationwide would lead to
plural marriages.
“You've got thousands of laws in
states a well as the federal law,” he said. “Everything would
have to change, and what would have to happen logically is all the
other things (including polygamy and polyandry) would have to be
acceptable,” he
said.
Utah Valley University (UVU) President
Matthew Holland also joined the brief, the only university president
to do so, triggering a protest by scores of UVU professors and staff.
(Related: University
president's opposition to marriage equality draws protest.)