"An ability, desire, or promise to procreate is not and has not been a prerequisite for a valid marriage"
If it was, it'd be incredibly stupid. 'Oh, you're infertile/unwilling to have kids? Too bad, you don't get to marry.'
"If rights were defined my who exercised them in the past, then received practices could serve as their own continued justification and new groups could not invoke rights one denied."
I agree with this. If you give rights only to the people who originally had them, you're not going to get anywhere. Women's suffrage, black people having right at all, et cetera are some good examples.
I really don't see the problem with legalizing marriage that doesn't have the clear intent to procreate. It's just two people that love each other. Also, allowing couples that are unable to procreate to marry !== legalizing incestous marriage.
Unless I misread that.
EDIT: Some quick snippets from the ruling that defend the results.
"The history of marriage as a union between two persons of the opposite sex marks the beginning of these cases. To the respondents, if would demean a timeless institution if marriage were extended to same-sex couples. But the petitioners, far from seeking to devalue marriege, seek it for themselves because of their respect - and need - for its privileges and responsibilities"
People in married couples get benefits. This ruling spreads these benefits to more couples.
"The history of marriage is one of both continuity and change. Changes, such as the decline of arranged marriages and the abandonment of the law of coverture, have worked deem transformations in the structure of marriage, affecting aspects of marriage once viewed as essential. These new insights have strengthened, not weakened, the insitution. Changed understandings of marriage are characteristic of a Nation where new dimensions of freedom become apparent to new generations."
Yes, just because change worked before it doesn't mean it'll work now, but claiming changing marriage would necessarily diminish its value it untrue. Learning from patterns in history is important.
