Introduction

Pro-family advocates also quickly discovered that the cherished institution of marriage was already perilously weak. Changes in the law over the prior three decades, such as the spread of no-fault divorce and broad acquiescence to cultures of divorce and intentional childlessness, had stripped traditional marriage of important legal qualities. For example, the linkage in law and custom of marriage to procreation became vulnerable in an age when a large proportion of marriages occurred between couples unable or unwilling to beget children. As companionship displaced offspring as the guiding reason for marriage, the claims of same-sex couples for recognition gained traction.