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Valuing All Families

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, bellm{at}wlu.edu

Anti-gay marriage amendments proliferate, and current welfare legislation includes coercive marriage promotion programs. This article argues that government sponsorship and promotion of the traditional institution of heterosexual marriage-based family are antithetical to the liberal democratic values that most Americans would claim are foundational principles of their society: liberty and individuality. I suggest that, in order to make the social and legal institution of family consistent with professed public values, it should be transformed from the traditional structure into a new structure that is (1) flexible and customizable, and (2) eligible for direct public support for its role in social reproduction.

Law, Culture and the Humanities, Vol. 5, No. 2, 288-316 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1743872109102493


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