Marriage and other unions in the US

FreieWelt.net: How has the institute of same-sex-marriage evolved in the USA, especially in New York where it was established in 2011?

Ralph Richard Banks: Same sex marriage has been accepted among a large portion of the United States population during the past several years.

FreieWelt.net: Two other forms of marriage have been relevant to jurisdiction in the US: polygamy and interracial marriage. The first is still forbidden, the second is not. Why?

Ralph Richard Banks: Polygamy is likely to remain prohibited. Prohibitions on interracial marriage were all struck down by the Supreme Court in 1967 in the case of Loving v Virginia. Such restrictions not only restricted the right to marry, they expressed a norm of white supremacy, according to the Supreme Court. There is no analogous form of group inequality implicated by prohibitions of polygamy.

FreieWelt.net: What are the guiding principles behind the current legislation concerning marriage?

Ralph Richard Banks: That two individuals who love each other should be able to marry.

FreieWelt.net: The US have discussed polygamy and racial obstructions for marriage, nowadays the whole world talks about same-sex-marriage. But we almost never talk about incest, zoophilia or sex with children. Do we have to?

Ralph Richard Banks: Sex with children will not become legal, due to children’s lack of capacity to consent.

FreieWelt.net: Do you have an explanation for the importance of the discussion of same-sex-marriage?

Ralph Richard Banks: Same sex marriage expresses a message about the status, indeed humanity, of gays and lesbians.

FreieWelt.net: Has the institute of marriage – in the traditional, Western understanding: as a lifelong union between a man and a woman – any relevance in the future?

Ralph Richard Banks: Yes and no. People may aspire to the lifelong union, but neither law nor culture enforces that understanding.

FreieWelt.net: Thank you very much for the interview!

Please note that Professor Banks has engaged in the New York Times debate »Marriage: The Next Chapter«.