It can be gerrymandered to do so via adjusting adoption and surrogacy laws, but it is itself inherently sterile. So granting a gay couple the right to marry does not, in itself, bring in its wake the existence of a family; that depends on other laws and social practices—again, pointing to the fact that this ruling cannot be isolated from a host of other social practices and beliefs that already enjoy status within the social imaginary. It is as much a symptom of the changing definition of marriage within society as it is a contributing cause.
