Privatizing Marriage Will Expand the Role of the State

That is because the attempt to privatize marriage will hinder the ability of marriage to perform its essential public function. Nonetheless, children still need to be attached to mothers and fathers somehow. The state will pretend to get out of the marriage business all right, but then the state inevitably will be caught up in the business of defining who counts as a parent. Up until now, that job has been largely left to Mother Nature, with the state simply recording the natural reality of parenthood.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/04/5071?utm_source=RTA+Morse+Private+State&utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email