Chicago, Ill., Oct 12, 2003 / 22:00 pm
A group of legal scholars and gay advocacy groups want marriage to be de-legalized in order to make the distribution of benefits more fair for people who aren’t married, including gay couples, reported Fox News.
University of Houston law professor Victor Flatt said married couples receive social security, immigration and tax benefits that aren’t available to other citizens.
"Their idea is: Why should you be treated differently by the law just because you're married?" David Blankenhorn at the Institute for American Values told Fox News. "Why should society hold up one particular family form and say we protect and support this family form but not others? That would be their main argument."
Some opponents are saying that the call to de-legalize marriage is a ploy by gay rights advocates. Later this year, some groups will introduce an amendment to the Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman and invalidate state laws that grant gay couples equal status to married couples.