GHS The Public Policy of Marriage Questions

1. How have biological, social, psychological, and cultural factors contributed to our current policies toward marriage? What other factors guide our policies on marriage today? How can a society best handle shifts in public policy preferences on marriage to maintain overall harmony?

2. Consider whether or how it would be possible to deny the status of marriage to same-sex couples without violating standard principles of separation of church and state, equality, and personal autonomy. Does state law recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships adequately solve the problem or do these options mask the problem?

3. Using the readings in this chapter, determine how to categorize the constitutional limitations placed on the marriage policies of the individual states. For example, do the cases and readings fit most appropriately into the principles of due process, equal protection, or personal autonomy?

4. This chapter used the topic of same-sex marriage to examine marital policy in general. How might the legal principles described in this chapter be applied to other limits on marriage? For example, how might restrictions on marriage based on age, consanguinity, and number of spouses be assessed using the legal concepts at play in the same-sex marriage debates?

use Chapter 2 to help you answer these questions