Professor Joslin Publishes Op-Ed on Same-Sex Marriage in Los Angeles Times
Professor Courtney Joslin authored an op-ed that was published in the Los Angeles Times. In her op-ed, Professor Joslin critiques one of the arguments likely to be raised by DOMA's defenders, the so-called "responsible procreation" theory. The theory posits "that federal marriage benefits are offered because the government has an interest in promoting stable families in which children are raised by their two biological parents." Because same-sex couples cannot have biological children, DOMA's defenders continue, it is permissible to deny them hundreds of federal marital benefits. In her piece, Professor Joslin points out that federal benefits long have been extended to families with biologically unrelated children. Social Security and federal military benefits, for example, both explicitly extend benefits to adopted children and to stepchildren.
"In the end, responsible procreation is based on myth, not on history and tradition," writes Joslin. "The U.S. Supreme Court now has an opportunity to call out the argument for what it is: an attempt to single out lesbian and gay couples for different and discriminatory treatment simply because of their sexual orientation."
Professor Joslin develops this argument further in her piece "Marriage, Biology, and Federal Benefits," which is forthcoming in the Iowa Law Review.
Professor Joslin is a scholar in the field of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and non-marital couples.