Let’s look at the concept of human well-being and examine how the family founded upon the marriage of a man and a woman contributes to that flourishing.

The Family Matrix

by Gerard V. Bradley

The lifelong, unbreakable chords of fealty and identity that family members possess for each other depend upon the biological matrix created by the marital union of man and woman.

Most of the argument in legislatures, in courts, and in the marketplace of ideas about legal recognition of same-sex “marriages” has been about how well children do in various sorts of households. The arguments have centered on comparisons of homes headed by same-sex couples compared to mother-and-father homes. These studies identify sundry indicia of well-being, such as academic achievement, truancy rates, reported self-esteem, and ability to make friends. These are good things. But they are not measures in themselves of moral uprightness, or of human flourishing in any morally significant sense. The class valedictorian could be a rotten kid. Troubled students are often very good people. The most popular girl in the high school can be the worst brat—and so on.

As far as I can tell, almost all of the studies supporting the “no-difference” or “just-as-good” view of same-sex households are so limited in their sample size, or so flawed in other ways, that they are defective simply as social science. The number of scientifically reliable studies establishing a statistical significant deficit of “doing well” in same-sex households is smaller. But some of these—most notably the one by University of Texas scholar Mark Regnerus—are quite probative as social science. They are highly suggestive of what thorough and unbiased work of this sort would show.

My judgment, however, is that right now social science does not deliver anything like a conclusive judgment about how well kids in these various cohorts do. This uncertainty does not mean that the law must be similarly inconclusive. In fact, some courts in same-sex “marriage” cases have upheld state laws defining marriage as between man and woman precisely because there is some reason for legislators to judge that mother/father households provide an “optimal setting” for kids to grow up in. (Here these courts might well cite Regnerus.) Courts that have considered the constitutionality of husband-wife marriage laws since US v. Windsor was decided last June have ignored this good scholarly work, or wrongly branded it as unworthy of serious consideration. These courts have mistakenly held that the equal protection clause requires state recognition of same-sex “marriage.”

So let’s leave all of this social science aside. Let’s consider the more salient but little discussed moral issues. Let’s look at the concept of human well-being and examine how the family founded upon the marriage of a man and a woman contributes to that flourishing. Let’s see how this family is constitutive of true human flourishing.

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