# Is it Sexist to Deny Same-Sex Marriage

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-sexist-to-deny-same-sex-marriage/585826>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 17, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-sexist-to-deny-same-sex-marriage/585826 "2011-06-17T13:38:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-sexist-to-deny-same-sex-marriage/585826/81 "2011-06-19T19:24:12Z")

</div>

If men and women are equal (m=w), then a man and a woman is equal to two men or two women (m+w = 2m = 2w). To afford opposite-sex couples special status is therefore based in gender inequality.

Until relatively recently, the law treated husbands and wives differently. The case could be made that restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples is a vestige of that history. You could also point to Ancient Greece, where they didn’t exactly have a problem with homosexuality, but still restricted marriage to a man and a woman, on the basis of treating men and women differently.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-sexist-to-deny-same-sex-marriage/585826/82 "2011-06-19T19:31:34Z")

</div>

> [@gatorslap](#):
>
> If men and women are equal (m=w), then a man and a woman is equal to two men or two women (m+w = 2m = 2w). To afford opposite-sex couples special status is therefore based in gender inequality.
> 
> Until relatively recently, the law treated husbands and wives differently. The case could be made that restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples is a vestige of that history. You could also point to Ancient Greece, where they didn’t exactly have a problem with homosexuality, but still restricted marriage to a man and a woman, on the basis of treating men and women differently.

This is an excellent point. It may also partly be a vestige of the history of marriage (and sex) merely as a means of producing offspring, a view many or most would consider outdated or worse today.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-sexist-to-deny-same-sex-marriage/585826.md?page=4)