Virtually every political community has regulated male-female sexual relationships. This is not because government is a sucker for romance. If marriage were just about consenting adult love, the state wouldn’t be in the marriage business. Government recognizes male-female sexual relationships because these alone produce new human beings. For highly dependent infants, there is no path to physical, moral, and cultural maturity—no path to personal responsibility—without a long and delicate process of ongoing care and supervision to which mothers and fathers bring unique gifts. Unless children
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