Quote of the Day

American marriage law, and the English law that it was derived from, presumed that the wife was both financially and sexual subservient to the husband. In a world where marriage is defined as a union between a dominant man and a submissive woman, each fulfilling unique gender roles, the case for marriage discrimination is clear. How can both the dominant male role and the submissive female role be carried out in a marital union if the union does not include one man and one woman? This, according to Justice Ginsburg, is why marriage was understood to exclude same-sex couples for so many centuries.

But marriage is no longer bound to antiquated gender roles. And when those gender roles are removed, the case for marriage discrimination breaks down.

– Ian Millhiser
Excerpted from "Chief Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Eviscerates the Case Against Marriage Equality in Just Five Sentences"
Think Progress
April 29, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
U.S. Supreme Court Seems to Be on the Verge of Ruling in Favor of Marriage Equality – Reuters via The Huffington Post (April 26, 2015).
Supreme Court Marriage Equality Case Will Be Led by Catholic Gay Couple
What the Catholic Supreme Court Justices Get Wrong About Marriage – Patricia Miller (Religion Dispatches, April 29, 2015).
Meet the Couples Fighting to Make Marriage Equality the Law of the Land – Amanda Terkel, Kate Abbey-Lambertz and Christine Conetta (The Huffington Post, April 20, 2015).
The Top Arguments For and Against Same-Sex Marriage at the Supreme Court – Matt Baume (The Huffington Post, April 30, 2015).
Jon Stewart Positively Destroys Anti-Gay Marriage Arguments at the Supreme Court – Ed Mazza (The Huffington Post, April 30, 2015).
Biblical Marriage is Not What You Think – Rebecca Todd Peters (The Huffington Post, April 30, 2015).
Even Expert Opposing Equality Conceded Same-Sex Unions Have Been Around for Millennia – Adam Talbot (HRC, April 30, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Changing Face of "Traditional Marriage"
• Marriage: "Part of What is Best in Human Nature"
• Rediscovering What Has Been Written on Our Hearts from the Very Beginning
• Responding to Bishop Tobin's Remarks on Gay Marriage
• Quote of the Day – May 31, 2014

Image: Ted Bytan.