VA Clerks: Marriage Is for Couples Who Can Accidentally Get Pregnant

The two Virginia officials appealing a federal judge’s February ruling striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban are really pulling out all the stops to prove that Virginia is only for straight lovers. In their opening briefs, Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk George E. Schaefer, III and Prince William County Circuit Court Clerk Michele B. McQuigg both argued that one of the reasons for marriage is to encourage couples to get hitched in the event of an unwanted pregnancy—a problem same-sex couples are spared the pleasure of experiencing. “Only opposite-sex couples have the ability to have an unintentional pregnancy, and the legislative body could legitimately want to steer that potential into a marital relationship,” Schaefer wrote. He also noted, somewhat dramatically, that “Without procreation, we would eventually disappear as a species.”